


Satisfaction Guaranteed or Double Your Kids Back

by LadyTineapple



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Daycare, Daycare, F/F, Implications of child abuse, M/M, Minor Swearing, minor background relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-23
Updated: 2015-10-23
Packaged: 2018-04-27 17:11:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 41,158
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5056936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyTineapple/pseuds/LadyTineapple
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Starting a new job, Lisa sends Dean to take Ben to the day care. He finds Charlie, one of Ben's teachers, absent, leaving only Castiel, who is desperately trying to handle the group on his own. Seeing that he is overwhelmed, Dean decides to use his day off to stay and help him out.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Art by [Wigglebox](http://wigglebox.tumblr.com)  
> Beta by [Smallhorizons](http://archiveofourown.com/users/smallhorizons) aka [Osirisjones](http://osirisjones.tumblr.com)

“Shit, shit, shit,” Dean hissed, rushing down the hallway. He cradled the baby in one arm. With the other he started to dig through the kitchen drawers.

“Dean!”

“Yeah, I’m sorry.”

“Can you get your language under control around him?” Lisa asked with a shake of her head, stepping up to him and carefully pulling the baby into her own arms.

“He doesn’t understand me.” He waved off Lisa’s question then dug through the drawer with his brow furrowed.

“No, but he listens and I don’t want his first words to be swear words. What are you searching for?”

“I forgot those—“ he gestured with his fingers to her increasing frown. “For the bottles.”

“Nipples?” she asked, her brows raised. He giggled for a second before quickly regaining his composure. Lisa’s lids fluttered shut under a sigh. Stepping past him, she pulled a drawer open and, without looking, handed it to him.

“Thanks,” he mumbled. After a second he set into motion again, trotting down the hallway. Lisa followed him to the door. As Dean crouched down to place the nipple in the bag, Lisa continued pulling faces at Ben, who wiggled his little legs against her.

“All right,” Dean said decisively and held his hands out.

“Are you sure you can handle this?”

“I got it! Just because I don’t know every inch of your kitchen doesn’t mean I’m gonna drop him.”

“Fine,” she said softly and handed Ben over. “But watch out what you say.”

“I promise,” he nodded, taking Ben again. “No no-no words around you,” he whispered to Ben.

“You are a child,” Lisa said with a smile.

“That’s not true. I’m just on level with the little guy here.”

“Keep telling yourself that,” she laughed, picked up the bag and threw it over his free shoulder. “Come on, get moving before you’re late.”

“We got plenty of time.”

“You never know.”

“Okay, I get it,” he with a mockingly upset look. “You just want to get rid of us, don’t you?”

“You got me. I’m throwing a party as soon as my kid is gone.”

“I knew it.”

She rolled her eyes. “Oh wait!” She turned on her heels and reached over to the table, picked up a letter, and handed it to him. “Can you give this to Charlie?”

“Who?”

“The teacher?”

“Oh, right, that one.”

“Dean,” she said, a crease appearing between her brows again.

“I got it!”

“I should have showed you the way first.”

“Too late now.”

“Just be careful, all right?”

“I’m always careful,” he promised. “Come on, you know I love the little guy.”

“I know,” she said, cupping her son’s face with one hand, “I just want to be sure.”

“I promise, I will be careful. You stop worrying and focus on yourself, okay?”

“All right,” she nodded, stepping back. “You got all the numbers?”

“I have all numbers and addresses and a whole bag of baby stuff. I am probably better prepared than those teachers and I’ll only be with him for a few minutes.”

“That’s not what I’m worried about,” she assured him. “You’ll drive careful, right?”

“I always drive careful.”

“Dean, you never drive less than twice the speed limit.”

“I got it under control.”

“Not with a child in the seat.”

“No, not with a child in the seat,” he repeated, taking a step back. “I’m telling you, I know what I’m doing. I’ll drive slow and careful, I won’t forget him anywhere, and I will handle him with care. I’ll not even toss him around like a football this once.”

She crossed her arms firmly, a smirk on her face.

“You know I got him.”

“Yeah, I know,” she admitted. “Take care you two.”

“Sure,” he grinned. “You get going. And good luck for you,” he called over his shoulder as he walked down to his car. He could sense her watchful eyes on his back, until he reached the car. He bent over and carefully placed Ben in his seat, fastening the seatbelt between wiggling limbs, soft coos, and Ben pondering his tongue. “You know,” Dean whispered as he secured the belt, “it’s way too early for this kind of crap.”

Ben squealed once, kicking his tiny legs up at Dean.

“Yeah, I know,” he agreed quietly. “But ‘crap’ isn’t a bad word.”

Eyes fixed on Dean’s face, Ben’s lips curled in a bright smile.

“See?” Dean smiled back. “You and I, we get each other. Nothing to worry about.” He patted Ben’s belly with one hand, a frown beginning to form on his face as he struggled to secure Ben. “Let’s see if we can figure out how to do this this time, huh?” he asked quietly, and Ben grew even fidgety, throwing his legs up while Dean kept quickly rubbing his belly between repeated attempts of closing the security belt. “Come on, come on,” Dean mumbled more to himself than Ben, who began to squeak and cry quietly. “Who designed this thing?!” Ben’s cry grew louder. He spun away, thick tears rolling over his cheeks. “No, no, no, don’t—See? I got it.” A relieved smile playing over his face, he gave Ben one more, soft pet to calm him, and pulled back to close the door. He quickly moved around the car, dumped the bag into the trunk, and slipped into the driver’s seat, shooting Ben another look. “You ready to go?” he asked and started the engine.

As they sped down the road, the Impala purring under them, Dean continued rattling away. “You think your mom’s ever going to relax about you? Ah, probably not. I guess I get it. She doesn’t want you to get hurt or lost. But come on, I’m taking care good care of you, right?” He shot a glance at Ben through the mirror.

Holding onto his own shirt, Ben stared at the passing mills, with glassy eyes, his tongue sticking out of his mouth. “She’s just not used to leaving you all alone with someone, I think. At least you don’t freak out about it. You’re a tough little guy, right? Tougher than me,” he admitted quietly, eyes fixed on the road. “So, how do you think Lisa’s going to do today?” A smirk curling his lips, he rattled on until they slowed down and rolled out on the parking lot of the day care. “There we are,” Dean announced, eyeing the building for a moment with a measuring look. “Well, if your mom thinks that’s the right place for you.” He shrugged and climbed out the car.

He shook his head, trying to get Ben back out the seat while he drooled over his hand. “Your Mom probably knows best, huh?”

Carefully, he pulled Ben up into his arm and leaned him against his chest. He closed the door again, carrying him the last steps over the parking lot, to the entrance. He leaned back and forth for a second, peeking in before pulling the door open and stepped into the bright colored hallways. He could see someone watch him from the office in the front as he passed it and became painfully aware of each of his movements.

“Wow,” he mumbled into Ben’s ear as they passed the few parents and children scattered over the hallway. “This is an eye strain.” With slow, even steps he ventured deeper into the hallway, before picking a small piece of paper out of his pocket. “Let’s see where we have to go,” he asked as he unfolded the paper. For a second he studied Lisa’s handwriting on the paper. “All right,” he said quietly. “Looks like that one,” he said more to himself and stared down the hallways. He checked each door on the way down, counting them quietly, and stopped before a bright red door close to the end of the hallway.

With a curious look he leaned into the door, scanning the room, until two men stepped into view, exchanging hurried whispers, while they gracefully avoided the children crawling and waddling around their legs, chasing each other.

“All right,” one of them sighed, running a hand through his hair, guiding the one in the light blue shirt towards the door.

“You all right?”

“Sure,” he said tightly, hands stemmed into his sides.

“We’ll check in on you later,” he said with a quick pat onto the other’s arm and hurried out the door and past Dean with a brief smile.

For a second Dean looked after him, brows raised slightly, before snapping back around to the other, who exhaled a long breath, staring into the distance. Then he built himself back up and put up a smile, approaching Dean with quick steps.

“Good morning.”

“Hi. Morning,” Dean said, stepping into the room as he brought Ben closer to himself, both hands shielding him. “Is this the right room?”

“If that is Ben,” he said with a nod to the child. “Yes.”

“Oh, okay, good, I wasn’t sure. Lisa explained it but…” he waved off.

“Then you must be Dean?”

“Yeah,” he said, his expression somewhat puzzled.

“Lisa said you’d bring Ben today,” he explained and reached out to Ben, trying to wiggle his way out of Dean’s arms and reaching out to his surroundings. “Good morning,” he said quietly, holding the child in his arms. “How are you today?”

Ben cooed quietly, eyes fixed on the other children.

“You want to play?” he asked with a weak smile and nodded to himself as he lowered Ben to the ground, placing him near other infant. “You play nice, okay?” he asked with a look at both of them, got back up and returned to Dean.

“Are you Charlie?” he asked with a measuring look at the teacher.

“No,” he managed to say before a woman entered. A toddler tugged along on her hand. The woman quickly waved at the teacher, then crouched down, and kissed her son goodbye. The man returned to Dean with his breath held. “I am Castiel. Charlie is the other teacher.”

“Oh, right,” Dean nodded, turning his head to search the room.

“But she’s not here right now,” he admitted without looking directly at Dean. “Did you need something from her?”

His brows shot up. “Oh, no, Lisa just wanted me to give her something,” he explained, reaching into his pocket to feel for the piece of paper.

“Is it important?” He frowned.

“Honestly? I have no idea.”

Castiel drew a deep breath and pressed his lips tightly together, staring across the room. As he tried to greet them, two more children raced each other in. Neither paid attention to their parents by the door, attempting to say their goodbyes to them. Instead, the parents got a quick wave from Cas, returned it, and slowly retreated. The two children called quick greetings at Castiel and rushed up to him.

“You know what we did this weekend?” the darker haired girl asked.

Leaning down to her, hands on his knees, he drew a breath, searching for words, and glanced over at Dean before trying a smile. “Krissy, you know the rules. We are talking right now, but you can tell me later, okay?”

“Okay, later,” she said with a nod and trotted back off, taking her friend by the hand.

“Sorry,” he said with an apologetic smile, returning to Dean once more.

“Just doing your job.” He shrugged. “So, is Charlie coming later or…?”

Reluctantly he met Dean’s eyes and answered. “I’m afraid not. She called in, just a minute ago saying she couldn’t come.” He attempted to continue, but was cut off by Dean.

“Shouldn’t you guys note that a bit earlier?”

“Usually, yes,” he admitted. “But it was an unpredictable emergency.”

“Meaning?”

“A small accident. She is fine, apparently, but unable to come here.”

“Oh, wow,” Dean said quietly and blinked rapidly. “Hope it’s not too bad.”

“It should be okay,” he dismissed him quickly and swallowed. “Now, I understand that it’s not the most reassuring thought to have only one teacher for the usual group, and I would understand if you didn’t like the thought of it, but I promise that we have it all under control. I am trained,” he said, drawing a deep breath and flexing his hands, “and because we couldn’t find a replacement in such a short time, someone from another group will come by. Later. Most likely,” he finished quietly, a frown on his face, and swallowed once.

“You sure you got this?” Dean asked, sizing him up.

“Of course,” he said, exhaling, and spun around at a wail. He rushed off, picking up the other infant who had been pushed down by a slightly older kid. Cradling her in his arms, he gave the older one a stern look, his scolding never getting too loud. For another moment he held the little one, calming her down.

A banging sound came from the other end of the room, making him spin around.

“Andy!” he scolded, and the boy giggled. “Careful.”

Giggling, he ran on, picking up the next toy, and took aim. Castiel drew a deep breath, his mouth half open and unable to get up in time.

After a quick glance back and forth, Dean crossed the room to the other direction with a few, quick steps and grabbed the toy the child was holding, keeping him from throwing it.

“Hey,” he said with a smile and crouched down, carefully taking the toy from him. “Andy? Andy. How about we put this down carefully? Hm? Can we do that?”

For a moment Andy looked at him, pulling a face, then broke out into a grin. “No.”

“I think yes.”

He laughed.

“Okay?”

“Okay.”

“Great,” Dean said, and placed the toy back on the ground. “No more destroying things.”

“Okay,” Andy said again, more quietly and turned his attention elsewhere, letting Dean get back up and return to the front of the class. He glanced over at Castiel, seeing him place the other child back on the ground, and pet her once more before he followed Dean to the front of the class.

“Thank you,” he said, letting out a long breath.

“No problem.” With a smile he shrugged.

“Maybe the group is a bit big for one,” he mumbled, gazing over the children.

“You really sure you got this?”

He weighed his head. “Sure. I’m trained, I told you.”

“Are you serious?”

“I’m not really supposed to be watching this many kids on my own,” he admitted. “And I’m certainly not used to it, but if Victor trusts me to handle it, I’m sure I can.”

“But if you want, I can stick around a bit longer,” Dean suggested softly. “Help you keep an eye on everything.”

“I’m not sure that would be allowed,” Castiel said, choosing his words with care.

“Well, nobody has to know.” He shrugged with a grin, then froze. “That probably didn’t sound the way I meant it,” he said, shaking his head. “I just mean, you could use a hand here and I’d prefer to make sure that none of these kids flushes Ben down the toilet while another sets the room on fire, you know?”

“I understand,” he frowned.

“I mean, I’m sure you do your job great, but, I’m not gonna lie, even half the amount of kids would be too much to handle for me.”

“I know what you mean,” he mumbled, rolling his eyes. “It is a bit much.” He sized Dean up for a moment. “I would have to see some sort of ID though. And I think we have some papers you should sign. Just to be sure.”

“Oh, yeah, sure,” Dean said, digging for his wallet, as Castiel observed the kids carefully.

He took the ID from Dean and read it thoroughly, before handing it back. “Thank you. We just need to make sure—”

“I get it,” Dean cut him off, a hand held up. “Hey, better you check me than having any old dude walk in here and do what he wants, right?”

“Exactly.”

“But I could stay? I mean if another parent wanted to stay and got scared about leaving their child—”

“Depending on the situation, we’d slowly persuade them to let their go child go.” He nodded. “I guess we can make a small exception. But if another parent asks—“

“I’m an over-anxious dad who needs to be with his kid?”

“Something like that, yes,” he said with a nod.

“No problem.”

“Then we just need you to fill out some documents later.” He shot a look around at the crowded room. “Once I have five seconds to get them.”

“You could go now, I’ll stay here.”

Cas shot him a long look.

“Right. Sorry.”

Cas let out a breath and straightened his shoulders. “You think that is a good idea?”

“Hey, I’m great with kids!” Dean whined. “Why does everyone always think I’m not?”

“I’m not questioning your skills,” Castiel calmed him down. “It’s just a lot of them. And you’re not fully trained—you’re not trained at all—and you don’t know what these children need.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Dean said, holding his hands up. “I’m mostly here for moral support. The poopy diapers and scraped knees are all yours.”

“Thanks,” he said flatly and nodded, leaving Dean to wonder how serious he was.

Once all the children were gathered in the room, each of them greeted appropriately, and their parents out the door, they quickly gathered in groups. They searched out their favorite toys and activities, starting their playing with loud screams. Only one remained a few steps from the door, fixating it with a stoic look. His eyes welled up, and lips shook.

Castiel stood several feet away, hands half lifted, spinning back and forth before chasing after a child to quiet her down.

Barely able to grasp her arm, he stopped her and leaned down, scolding her quietly as she grinned back up. Before he could finish the sentence, he jerked up at a shattering sound. “Benny!” he shouted, and rushed over, spinning back and forth between screams, kids tugging on his trouser leg, and others stomping in the distance with hysteric laughs.

Almost without registering it, Castiel picked up the little girl by his feet, reaching out to him with thick tears rolling down her face and soothed her. With his free hand, he tried to get another child’s attention. Another crash. He spun, as a shriek from the other side followed.

“Uh, Cas—” Dean said hesitantly and stepped closer, waving and pointing. Before Castiel could focus on him, he felt something on his leg and turned around to see a chubby child trying to crawl through them.

His lips tightly pressed together, he swallowed once, turning his head back and forth, the sounds merging into each other and the room fading into a colorful blur between the children and the toys they threw around. He stopped for a second, seeing a single, malnourished child, Alan, sitting on the ground staring at the door, lips quivering and tears rolling over his cheeks.

His shoulders dropped and he let out a long sigh, glancing around, trying to unglue himself from the mess surrounding him. He turned back to Alan, just in time to see Dean step in and swoop him up into his arms.

Dean shushed the child quietly, rocking him in his arms and letting him lean against his chest. He turned on his heels, and paced around the room. Passing Castiel, his quiet, soft humming carried over.

Castiel stilled, eyes fixed on Dean. He drew a deep breath, his body relaxing, the tension falling off him. Alan—and seemingly the entire room with him—quieted down. A weak smile played over Castiel’s lips.

His crying stopped. Alan dropped his head against Dean’s shoulder, curling his tiny fingers into Dean’s shirt while he continued humming the song that Castiel couldn’t entirely make out. Alan stopped squirming in Dean’s arms and remained calm and quiet.

“Okay,” Dean said quietly, carefully holding the child with both hands and peeling him off his chest, carrying him over to the play gym in the corner. “If I’ll put you down now, can you be really brave it about it?” he asked, brows raised. Alan sucked his lips in, only reluctantly nodded. “Atta boy,” Dean grinned and gently placed Alan on his back. His glassy gaze wandered up at the toys dangling down on him, and he smacked his lips. Dean hovered and carefully watched for a moment. When the boy stayed quiet, he pushed himself back up with a proud grin and turned to Castiel, who gave him a quick smile. Then he returned his attention to a child, waving brightly colored blocks at him.

Dean gave him a shy smile and they stepped away from the child. “Sorry about that,” he whispered.

“Why?”

“I don’t know, I mean… picking up stranger’s kids? Isn’t that a bit weird?”

“It’s my job, Dean.”

“Yeah, but you’re trained.”

“He definitely needed the comfort,” Castiel said, nodding. “You did the right thing when I couldn’t. Thank you.”

“All right.” Dean said with a shrug. “Any time.” He turned over his shoulder giving the child another glance. For a moment silence fell between the two of them. “So is he like that every time?”

“So far.”

“And that never changes?”

“Honestly? You are the first to ever truly manage to calm him down in under an hour,” he sighed.

“Wait, really?”

“Yeah. He always seemed a bit complicated to us, to be honest.”

“Well, seems like I’ve got a hand for this,” Dean grinned, and winked at him.

“It does.”

Dean opened his mouth to reply something else and closed it again, waving off, while Castiel spun around, following the next, deafening squeal.

At his return, Cas dropped himself into a seat next to Dean, letting out a long sigh.

Instantly something tugged on Cas’ trouser leg, and he turned around with raised brows. “Who’s that?” Krissy asked, nonchalantly pointing at Dean as she looked up at Cas with big eyes.

“This is Dean,” he introduced with a warm smile, slid off the seat and crouched down low. “He is going to help us out today.”

Her mouth standing open, she continued to stare at Dean. He shifted awkwardly, eventually deciding to wave at her with a smile. Krissy continued to stare, not moving the slightest.

“Do you want to say hi?” Cas prompted after a few second. She shook her head, her mouth still open. “Okay. Do you want to go back to playing then?”

Still not taking her eyes off Dean, she took a step back, stopped for a moment, and set back into motion. She stumbled slightly. She fell on her hands, immediately got back up on her legs, shot Dean another look, and trotted back away.

“Well, that’s a first fan, huh?” Dean huffed.

“They will just need some time to get used to you, don’t worry.”

“Yeah, I get that.”

“Give them a moment to satisfy their curiosity. I’m sure they will like you.”

“Oh, you don’t know that. Maybe they think I’m a creep.”

“They are children, Dean. They aren’t that judgmental. If you don’t take away their toys or kick them they’ll be fine with whatever you do. Especially because you are new and exciting.”

“Oh is that so?”

“Believe me.”

“You are pretty damn certain for someone who only just met me.”

With a nod to himself, Cas paced the other direction, his steps slow, watching the children draw and play. “Who are you?” Tamara, a little girl with black curls in pigtails asked before Cas could reply. Dean spun around to her.

“Me?” he crouched down, weighing himself on his toes. “I’m Dean.”

She blinked once.

“I’m here to help Cas out today,” he added to break the silence.

“Where is Charlie?”

“Charlie is sick,” Cas chimed in. “But she will be back soon.”

“Oh,” she said, shoulders visibly dropping.

“You don’t need to worry about her.”

“Yeah, I’m sure she’ll be fine,” Dean agreed. “She’s tough, right?”

The girl nodded decisively.

“See? Being a little sick is not gonna get her down. She’s gonna be back here in no time.”

“Good.” A bright smile spread on her face. She turned around, rushing over to another child.

“No time,” Cas repeated, pulling a face. “For them.”

Dean raised his brows at him.

“Sometimes I think times runs differently for them and us. A week here can be very, very long.”

“That bad?” Dean scoffed.

“No,” he admitted with a weary smile, “but perhaps we are more aware of the time passing. It took me about two days to know all the children, their names, their own little quirks and needs and differences. After three days I felt like I had been here a full week. After six it felt like two weeks. After two weeks like a month.”

“You sound like you’re having the time of your life.”

“I promise, I am,” Cas assured him softly. “But time goes slower sometimes. That doesn’t have to be a bad thing. Sometimes time slows when down when you enjoy something.”

“Yeah, I guess it does,” he agreed softly, just when someone tugged on Cas’ clothes again.

“Who is that?” Kevin whispered, and shuffled closer when he noticed Dean looking at him, hiding behind Castiel’s leg. Cas opened his mouth, ready to answer, and closed it again. With one arm he swooped the boy up and took a step forwards. “Everyone, could you— Hey! Shh!” He placed a finger on his lips, and shot Dean a look. “Can you…?”

Dean shook his head in confusion. In Cas’ arm, Kevin put one finger on his lips and held the other arm up. Cas nodded in his direction. Reluctantly Dean copied him, letting his gaze wander over the kids, seeing one by one notice them and follow their example. Silence fell after a moment. Only the quiet cooing of a baby broke through it, instantly followed by a child shushing it. Both Dean and Cas let their hands sink back down.

“All right,” Cas said firmly, shifting Kevin in his arms. “You probably noticed Dean. He is here today to help us out while Charlie is gone.”

One of the small hands shot up, with the child gasping quietly.

“Yes, Maddy?”

“Where is Charlie?”

“She got sick and can’t be here today.”

“Is she back tomorrow?” another asked.

“Benny.” He rolled his eyes.

The child sacked into himself and threw his arm up, waiting for Cas to notice him.

“Yes?”

“When is she coming back?” he whined.

“We hope tomorrow,” he said, shooting Dean a short look, “but we will see how she is doing.”

Another arm shot up, so hard that is must have hurt. “Can we send her something?” he asked when Cas nodded at him.

“Sure,” he said, surprised, a smile slowly spreading on his face. “If you want.”

“Yes,” Ash grinned, dropping back to the table and grabbing the crayons. “I’ll make her a card,” he decided.

“Any other questions?” Cas asked, and the children shook their heads in return. “Good. You can go back to playing,” he said quietly, and set Kevin back to the ground.

He put a hand on Cas’ cheek, looking him in the eye. “I like Charlie better.”

“I’m sure you will like Dean too.”

“No.”

“We will see about that.” He patted Kevin on the back and sent him back off to play. Dean scoffed once, dropping his head.

A second later, Tamara came back. Immediately she took Dean’s hand. “Let’s play,” she pulled him over.

“Sure.” He struggled to get back up to his legs with her pulling his hand. “What do you want to play?”

“Pirate,” she decided, pulling him into the corner.

“Pirate? Pirate is great,” he said. Aa loud squeal came from behind him and he spun around to Ben staring at him, his cheeks flushed in a bright red and a grin on his face, slowly crawling into his direction.

Dean waved quickly, giving him a smile, and let Tamara drag him on into the corner.

Leading with firm steps and a determined expression, Tamara commanded Dean back and forth through the room, and hiring other children as her crew, until she had a small group in her command, all gathering out to bring her the desired goods.

Only when the door opened, the room went silent, abruptly, and almost all children stilled, fixating the door instantly. It took Dean a second to notice, before he too stopped and turned, to the redheaded woman in the door, scanning the room until she found Castiel, who slowly turned back and flashed her a smile.

“Charlie,” one of the kids squeaked, staring at her with big, glowing eyes.

“No,” the woman said with a chuckle. “Anna, remember?”

“Ohhhh,” the same child said, and dropped her shoulders,

“Sorry,” Anna shrugged and stepped over to Castiel, crouching down by his side, both on level with the children. “You okay?” she asked quietly. “Or did they get you down already?”

“No, I’m fine.”

“You need me to help?”

“I’m not sure.” He frowned, looking past her, to Dean instead. “Right now I have some help.”

From afar Dean watched them, brows furrowed. He saw Castiel point at him, and Anna spin her head around. He blinked once, and turned around to the children, who resumed their play.

“Hey, listen,” he said quietly, climbing back up to his feet, “I should— I have— I gotta talk to those two for a second, but I’ll be right back,” he promised, tapping the ground before building back up to his full height and crossing the room towards the two others. He put on his best smile as he got closer. “Hi,” he greeted and offered his hand to Anna, who pulled hers back.

“Hi.” She coughed weakly into her sleeve once. “Sorry.”

“No problem,” he said, withdrawing his hand and holding it up. “So you’re… not-Charlie?”

“Pretty much,” she laughed and cleared her throat. “You know, the kids only see the hair color and cut and blurt out the name. Maybe one of us should get a haircut. Or glasses.”

“If that would help anything,” Castiel said quietly.

She nodded thoughtfully. “So, anything I can do?”

“I don’t think so,” Castiel said, frowning at her as he struggled to make a kid keep her shirt on. “The worst should be over. For now at least. Until nap time. Unless you have something pressing,” he added, turning to Dean who froze, brows raised, and scratched the back of his head. 

For a moment he stared at them, glancing back and forth, lips pursed and moving without sound. “No, I’m good.”

“You sure?” Anna asked.

“Yeah, the kids are awesome,” he said more certainly, a smile crossing his face as he eased up.

“Dean has been doing very well with the kids.” Castiel beamed up at Anna.

“Okay, if you’re all settled,” she said, clearing her throat again, “then I’ll head back to my class. If you need something, scream across the hallway, and I’ll come back as soon as I can.” She smiled at Castiel.

“Sure, we will.”

She flashed him another grin, chuckling quietly. Then she turned and headed back outside, waving at the kids as she passed them.

“Wait,” Cas called after her. “If you could get me a document for Dean to sign, you’d do me a huge favor.”

“Coming right up.”

The child squirmed and squeaked, trying to pull her shirt off. “Keep it on,” Castiel sighed, putting her back up to her legs as Dean shuffled closer towards him.

“Just a question,” Dean said slowly.

“Sure,” Castiel said, sitting up again, when a whining rang in their ears. Lenore came back over, eyes filling with tears, and Castiel swooped her up. “Come along,” he said with a nod to Dean as he carried Lenore to the changing table.

“I’m just wondering… Should she really be here if she’s sick?”

“She’s not sick,” he said, carefully placing Lenore on the table, opening the cabinet door underneath to reveal the bin and taking a new diaper and wipes from above. “Sometimes she just has slight breathing problems. Besides, even if we’re kind of short staffed right now, to be honest, the kids carry more germs than most adults. They touch and lick everything.”

“Yeah, I can imagine,” he said quietly. “But seriously, I just—it’s safe here, right? ‘Cause honestly, I don’t want Ben to walk out of here sick.”

“Does he get breastfed?” Castiel asked, frowning at him as he started taking Lenore’s trousers off.

Dean began to stammer, blinking rapidly. “I—What?”

“Does he get breast milk or something else?”

For a moment Dean stared at him, dumbfounded, and Castiel exhaled.

“Breast milk strengthens his immune system until he can get vaccinated.”

“Oh. Well, I–I don’t—yeah,” Dean mumbled, gaze trailing off, over to Lenore on the table, and he jumped up slightly, cheeks flushed, hurriedly searching for somewhere else to look.

“But even if not,” Castiel assured him, wiping her clean, “most kids here are healthy, and we don’t usually let anyone work sick.”

“Usually?” he repeated firmly, brows shooting up.

“Well, one time, it was an important day, but even then, she only stayed as long as was necessary.”

“I don’t know, dude,” Dean mumbled, shaking his head. “That doesn’t sound good.”

“Believe me,” he sighed, wrapping Lenore back up, “it’s no different anywhere else.”

“Great.”

“Don’t worry,” he said, smiling, “children aren’t as sensitive as some people think.”

“Still, I’d want him to be okay.”

“He will be.”

“All right,” he said quietly. He let his gaze wander again before patting Castiel’s shoulder. “I’ll leave you to this, and go back to the others.” He gave him a weak smile and staggered back through the room. The door opened, and Anna handed him the document, before hurrying back to her own group. He gave it a short look, then placed it carefully on a shelf in the front, and moved on to the small group playing Pirate with Tamara, watching them for a moment. “Hey, still need me?”

“No,” Tamara said without looking at him as she climbed over another child. “You’re dead.”

“Oh, okay,” he said, his head dropping. “Did I get shot?”

“Ripped by sharks.”

“Awesome.” Dean nodded and swallowed once. “That’s just great.” With a pout, he turned around, continuing to stroll through the room. A few minutes long he searched for something else to do, eventually settling to crouch down and watch a few children play. After another moment, Castiel’s voice sounded through the room, calling the kids to clean up their toys and come together.

“Kevin,” Castiel sighed, staring at the boy who refused to put down his puzzle. “Kevin, come on, it’s time to pack up and eat.”

Still he showed no reaction. Castiel shook his head and set forward. “Come on, everyone,” he called over as he stepped up to Kevin, “pack it up.”

“I’ll keep an eye on it,” Dean said, waving over to him, and Castiel nodded back once before crouching down by Kevin’s side.

“Come on,” he said quietly, reaching around his shoulders to take the puzzle away. “Let’s put this aside, okay? You need to eat.”

Carefully, he removed the puzzle, and reached out to the child, trying to motivate him to step over to the table, as he turned over his shoulder, calling over: “Dean, can you feed Ben?”

“Yeah, sure,” Dean said, jumping back up and following him to find the baby. “Hey,” he beamed, holding Ben up. “You hungry? Starving, I bet.” He pulled Ben closer onto his chest. “Come on, let’s get you fed.”

Castiel handed him the bottle labelled with Ben’s name, and picked up another child himself.

“You have a good life, huh?” Dean asked, grinning down at Ben as he fed him, pacing up and down by the window again. “Yeah, you do. You know what? You should really enjoy this. Your life’s not always gonna be like that.” Ben’s eyes wandered over to him, staring up at him. “I know. But right now, it’s all just play and sleeping. You don’t even need to wake up to get fed. We don’t have it that easy anymore.” He stilled briefly, staring down at Ben, before nodding. “And you can fart in my hand without me getting mad at you. That’s not going to last much longer.”

Ben turned his head away again, suckling away, and threw his small fists against Dean’s chest.

“You have it so easy,” Dean sighed, and turned his head to watch Castiel carrying and feeding the other child while carefully observing the others and quietly talking to those that pulled on his trouser legs. “Not like him,” he said quietly, eyes glued to Castiel. “Both hands full of kids, and look at him, still smiling.” He shook his head and turned back to Ben. “I don’t know how he does that, I’d freaking lose it. At least I got the easy part.” He grinned and began tickling Ben with one finger. Ben turned his head, cooing against the bottle, and threw his limbs up. “And you got it even easier. Just wait ‘till you have to take care of a bunch of kids, and friends, and work.” He trailed off, staring out the window for a moment. “You wanna know something? After being here for a day, I almost don’t wanna go back to my regular job. I’m going to end up as a stay-at-home dad.”

With a quiet squeak, Ben dropped the bottle out of his mouth and turned his head away.

“Done already?” Dean asked, shaking the last remains of milk around in the bottle. “You sure?”

He shrugged after a moment, and went back to dump the bottle into the bag before shifting Ben in his arm to burp him. As he turned away, he left the noise and chaos behind him once more, only faintly hearing Castiel shush and scold other kids in a hopeless attempt to have more food land in their mouth than on their clothes, the ground and the table, while he finished feeding and burping the other infant.

Once the children were all done, Castiel ushered them to clear the table, taking the cups and plates back over to the tray.

“All right,” he called, “everybody ready for their nap?”

The kids quickly rushed over to the mats, each one placing theirs in another place on the ground. With some help from help from Castiel when they struggled to place them correctly, each kid quickly curled up to take a nap. Castiel waved Dean closer, and pointed at one of the cribs, while he carefully placed the child in the other one. “Good night, Jo,” Dean could hear him say quietly as he lowered Ben into the other bed.

“Don’t flip out, okay?” Dean asked and pulled his hands out from under Ben. For a moment he watched him, then let out a lengthy sigh. “What would I give to hold a nap as well,” he mumbled.

“So,” Castiel asked, his voice just loud enough to silence the kids that quietly chatted and giggled at each other. “Who wants a story?”

Bright smiles spread on the children’s faces, eyes alight, and they began to squeal. Before they could break out into screams, he placed a finger on his lips and shushed them, nodding towards the cribs. “Okay, fine, one story,” he said with a nod and dropped himself in the corner, picking through the books until he found one that was to his liking, then opened it and began the story.

Dean watched him from the other end of the room, not expecting to be particularly captivated by the story. Occasionally he found himself smirking at the voices and faces Castiel made for each of the characters and the care with which he read out the story, making sure he stressed the right passages. Castiel watched the children more than he watched the text of the story, turning the book around to show the pictures regularly.

By the end of the story, he let the book fall shut and exhaled a breath. The entire room went still and relaxed, the children curling up and closing their eyes without any more complaining.

Careful not to make a sound, Castiel put the book down and pushed himself back to his legs, crossing the room back towards Dean. He dropped himself into the chair next to him with a long, exhausted sigh.

“Finally silence, huh?” Dean whispered, a grin curling his lips.

“Yeah,” Castiel sighed, brows high, and nodded. “Finally.”

“That tough?”

“You have no idea.”

“If I can do anything more, let me know.”

“It’s fine,” he said with a faint smile. “You are doing fine. Especially with Ben.”

“Yeah, well, not the first time I got him, you know,” Dean huffed.

“Of course not.” Castiel watched the kids for a moment, watching as they fell asleep.

“He’s a great kid,” Dean said quietly, a smile lingering on his face as he watched the crib Ben was sleeping in.

“I know.”

“No, I’m serious, he is.”

“I’m not doubting you.”

“Let’s be honest, the other kids got nothing on him.”

“Dean, every parent thinks that about their own child.”

“Oh, no,” Dean said quickly, jerking up. “Ben is not mine. That’s not—We are not—“

“I’m sorry,” Castiel said slowly, a deep frown on his face. “I thought you were. The way you are with him, and since Lisa sent you.”

“No, I get that, but… no.”

“Well,” he said with a nod. “That is very nice, actually.”

“What, that I’m not his father?”

“Yes.”

Dean shot him a confused look, brows drawing closer and closer together.

“What I mean is that we don’t exactly see a lot of fathers who aren’t biological fathers. We don’t even see many biological fathers most of the time,” Castiel added more quietly. “But you still accept and raise him as—”

“No,” Dean cut him off again, eyes wide, then dropped his head with a laugh. “I’m not that either. I’m not his father and I’m not his dad, okay? Lisa and I are just friends. I mean, we…” He paused and  thought for a second, a faint smile lingering on his face, before changing his mind again. “No, we are just friends. And sometimes I babysit her kid. That’s all.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah,” he said quietly, his smile falling slowly at the look on Castiel’s  face.

“But you do spend a lot of time with him, right?”

“Yeah.”

“It shows,” Castiel said quietly.

“Oh, really?”

“I mistook you for his father,” he pointed out. “I think you have the same instincts.”

“Maybe.” Dean shrugged. “You know, I like that idea. That I’m kind of like his father. I mean, I know that I’m not. Probably. I’m not his biological father and one day Lisa and I are going to go separate ways, probably. She’s going to find him a new dad, and that’s fine, but I like to think that in a way, I have some influence on him, that I’m some kind of father role.”

Castiel nodded slowly, eyes fixed on Dean and a soft look on his face. “For what it’s worth,” he murmured, “I think you’d make a great father.”

“Thanks,” Dean scoffed and scratched his ear as it blushed bright red. “You too.”

“I’m not so sure about that,” Castiel mumbled, turning back to the group of children.

“Come on, why not?” Dean asked with a grin. “You can handle a dozen kids all on your own. I don’t know anyone else who could.”

“Evidently, I can’t either.”

“You’re doing great,” Dean insisted. “Especially considering that you aren’t even supposed to handle that many. Even half of this would drive me nuts. Hell, even one is too many at times. Especially at that age.”

“Thanks,” he said with a faint smile. “But I really only have them half-days. If it was day and night the whole thing would look very different.”

“Well, that’s why most of us get two parents, I guess,” Dean shrugged.

“One for day and one for night?” Castiel asked, frowning.

“Yeah, something like that.”

Castiel dropped his head, hiding his smile for a moment. “It’s a nice theory.”

For a second Dean nodded at him. “So,” he then said and cleared his throat. “I guess with all the baby drool and poop and what not you probably don’t really want children for yourself, do you?”

“I don’t know.” he frowned. “It never really seemed an option. Though, I wouldn’t have picked this job if I didn’t like children.”

“What do you mean it never seemed to be an option?” Dean asked with a frown and blinked rapidly. “No girlfriend ever brought it up?”

“I never had one,” he said, turning to him with a puzzled expression.

“Oh. Boyfriend?”

He shifted, rubbing a hand over his neck. “No.”

“Wow,” Dean mumbled. “How come?”

He shrugged. “It just never happened.”

Blinking rapidly, Dean nodded slowly, the corner of his lips dragged down.

“What about you?”

“Oh, I had girlfriends,” Dean said with a grin. “Oh, I did. Not ever a real boyfriend though.”

“I meant if you want children.”

“Oh, right,” Dean said softly and thought for a second, before shrugging. “I don’t know. I mean, I’ve got Ben, for now, and he’s great and all. I always wanted kids, and I still like the idea, but right now, it seems kind of weird.”

“Well, you have all the time in the world,” Castiel said with a weak smile. “You don’t have to choose now.”

“No, I guess not,” he agreed with a huff.

For another moment they shared a soft look, faint smiles playing around their lips before they tore their eyes off each other and let their gazes wander back across the room full of sleeping—or pretending to sleep—children.

“You know,” Dean said after a moment, shifting in his chair so that he dropped against the back and leaned slightly over to Cas, “those kids are a lot older than I thought.”

“You thought they’d be as young as Ben.”

“Yeah.”

He nodded slowly, his lips tight. “We tend to mix our groups up a bit, it gives the kids a chance to reach out and learn from each other, try around with different roles. But Ben is one of the youngest ones here,” he added, turning towards Dean again. “Only Jo is about the same age. Most parents like to wait a bit before handing their children to someone else.”

“I can imagine,” Dean mumbled and ran a hand through his hair. “Lisa actually hates it, but she needs a job. She tried to figure out something else, but…“

“It’s not that easy.”

“Are you kidding? It’s a nightmare,” he laughed quietly. “Having the kid alone is already tough. Having a job alone is already tough. But being a single mom, who also works?” He shook his head for a moment. “I would love to just jump in and take over, but I gotta work, too. I only took a few days off so we all can get used to the new rhythm. When she knows if she got the job and how long she needs there and everything, she’s probably gonna bring him here herself again,” he closed quietly, a hint of sadness swinging along in his voice, and Cas’ eyes narrowed at that. Before he could say anything, however, Dean cleared his throat and sat up slightly. “Anyway. What about that other kid? Jo? Why’s she here already?”

“Same as Ben,” Cas shrugged, took a water bottle from the small table and opened it. “Well, almost. Both parents are working their own businesses. They tried to balance it, close things down now and then, but, I’m blurry on the details, but something came along and money got tight, I think, so they had to keep both open as much as they could.”

“Wow,” Dean said, blinking once. “That sounds pretty tough, actually.”

“It’s not easy. But they work hard and they’re getting there. They still try to spend as much time with Jo as they can, but in the meantime, we have her for most of the day.”

“Well, I hope they can get it figured out and keep her home a bit.”

“Yeah, me too. Though, I like her. I’d be sad to see her go.”

“That’s kinda selfish,” Dean said, a bright grin on his face.

“I know,” Cas mumbled, his head dropping.

Dean shot up, reaching out to him with a laugh. “No, I get it. I’m kind of in the same situation with Ben. You grow attached to them and they run off to break your heart.”

“Now you sound like Jo’s father,” Cas pointed out with wide eyes. “Not that her parents aren’t sad to give her away either,” he added quickly. “It must be hard on them.”

“Oh, yeah, I know what you mean,” Dean agreed. “Hey, do you get emotional about all the kids or just her?”

“Well, I—“ he began and weighed his head. “I like them all.”

“Even the chaotic ones?” Dean asked with a huff and nodded at some of the kids.

Castiel opened his mouth and closed it again. “Yes, even those,” he said slowly, a crooked smile on his face. “They all have their moments. Easy ones and… not so easy ones.”

“The ones where they kick you in the stomach?”

“That’s why I chose a group with small kids.”

“Can’t kick you as hard, huh?” Dean laughed.

“Exactly.”

Dean laughed more quietly. “Yeah, my brother used to do that, too when he was little. He had quite a kick,” he remembered, rubbing his ribs at the painful memories. “I hope Ben is not going to turn out like that.”

“Good luck,” Cas scoffed. “But in my experience, all it takes is a bad day for them—too little or bad sleep, food they don’t like,” he shook his head at himself, “the wrong weather—and it’s hard to get them back out of it. At least during a certain age.”

“Well, then we gotta keep him happy somehow.”

Cas scoffed again. “That’s easier said than done. But I’ll give you a tip.”

“And what’s that?”

“Keep cookies near by.”

“Seriously? Baiting kids into being nice with sugar, that’s your big secret?” Dean asked, trying to sound offended, but unable to keep himself from breaking out into a grin.

“I wouldn’t put it like that,” he said defensively, a deep frown on his face. “But it keeps them satisfied for the time being, and it makes them happy. Half a cookie now and then doesn’t hurt them.”

“I hope you don’t get too many health-fanatic parents here.”

“Well, I’m not handing them out here.”

“Well, that’s one way to handle it.”

“As long as it doesn’t become a habit to keep them quiet, of course,” Castiel  added decisively. “It’s only to keep yourself from too many bruises and your child from too many breakdowns.”

“You know, that doesn’t actually sound too bad,” Dean admitted quietly. “I’ll remember it.”

“Also, pasta.”

“Oh, yeah, I remember that one.” Dean nodded, staring into the distance with wide eyes. “Pasta made everything better for Sammy too. And for me.” He thought for a moment. “To be honest, sometimes it still kinda does.”

A smile curled Cas’ lip, and he dropped his head low.

“What?” Dean asked quietly. “Pasta’s great!”

“Of course,” Cas said quietly and nodded once more, then pushed himself up. “Do you want a coffee?”

“Wha—Are you leaving me alone here?”

“They’re sleeping, you don’t have to do anything.”

“All right,” Dean said reluctantly.

“Unless you want to go, and I stay here.”

“No,” he said slowly. “No, it’s fine.”

“Good,” he said and passed Dean. “I’ll try to hurry.”

“You better,” Dean joked.

“So, you want one?”

“Oh, yeah, sure,” Dean said with a small shrug.

“You can fill out the form until I’m back,” Cas advised and strode off. He came back after a few, short minutes, holding two cups of steaming, hot coffee, and handed one to Dean before dropping back into his chair. They continued to watch the sleeping kids in silence, once the form was done, sipping their coffee. The quiet was occasionally interrupted by Dean asking questions about the job and which boundaries he needed to know and Castiel answering with quick explanations. Soon, Castiel announced that nap time was over, and they went to wake the kids back up. The children returned to play time, drawing and various group activities, and Dean and Cas were left to deal with similar chaos as before: stinky diapers that Dean rushed to Cas for change, and all kinds of tears, leaving almost no time for anything else. Occasionally, other teachers would visit to help briefly before hurrying back to their own groups, but the chaos remained impossibly to control until the day was out and the kids were picked up by their parents. One by one, they said their goodbyes to Cas, and some of them even said goodbye to Dean as well.

With a long sigh, Cas stepped over to Dean when the room cleared. “Thank you,” he said quietly.

“Ah, come on.” Dean grinned and waved the thanks off. “That was nothing.”

“No, I’m serious. You were a great help. I know how difficult this is, so every helping hand is good.”

“Well, it’s been my pleasure,” Dean said, his eyes falling shut for a moment, and a soft smile curled his lips. Noticing the look on Cas’ face, a faint pink crept up Dean’s cheeks. “Anyway,” he said quietly. “It was nice. Maybe… Maybe I can come back, bring Ben a few more times.”

“Good, then we’ll see again.” Cas smiled. “And maybe you will get to meet Charlie this time.”

“Right,” Dean said flatly. “That… would be great.”

“I’m looking forward to it.”

“Yeah. Yeah, me too.” He stepped back, swallowing once. “Anyway, I—I should get Ben back. If you don’t need me anymore. I’m sure Lisa is already wondering—“

“Of course,” Castiel said hurriedly. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to hold you up.”

“No, it’s fine,” Dean said, involuntarily breaking out into another smile. “But we really should go.”

“Yeah. Get home safe,” Castiel said, a faint smile on his face.

“Thanks. Um, you too.” He nodded once more before picking Ben up from the ground. He threw the bag in the corner back over his shoulder and hurried out the room. Once he stepped out the building, he drew a deep breath, realizing he had been holding it. He secured Ben in his seat and drove off. “That wasn’t so bad, huh?” He grinned into the slowly setting sun and tapped his thumb against the wheel. “I’m starting to get why your Mom put you there.”

Ben wiggled his legs in his seat, grunting loudly.

“That Cas guy isn’t too bad. Weird, but not too bad. If Charlie is half that nice, you’re one lucky kid.” He glanced back at Ben, who yawned and kicked his legs. Dean turned on the radio on low volume. Humming along, he replayed the day mentally.

“You excited to see Mommy again?” Dean whispered, cradling Ben as he carried him back to the house. He knocked and waited for Lisa to open the door again.

“Hi!” Lisa beamed, immediately taking Ben back into her arms. “Hey, you had a nice day?”

“Oh, he’s been doing great.” Dean grinned and flattened the thin hair on Ben’s head.

“Did the teachers say anything?”

“No, well, I—“ he stopped, blinking once. “Not really. Though he didn’t finish the whole bottle,” he added, handing her the bag.

“Oh, weren’t you hungry?” she asked softly, tilting her head at Ben, who stretched his hand out to her face. “We better keep an eye on that. Did you give Charlie the letter?”

“The—Oh,” Dean remembered, blinking once and pulled the envelope out of his pocket. Lisa’s shoulders dropped and she shot him a look of annoyed disbelief. Dean shifted his weight, blinking rapidly. Exhaling a breath, he stuffed the letter into the bag for Ben. “She wasn’t there, so… I mean I could have given it to Cas, but he’s probably not going to see her before one of us. Right? And before he forgets it or something. I can take it tomorrow, if you want.”

Lisa nodded for a moment, biting the inside of her cheek. “You and Cas got along?”

“Yeah. Sure.” He watched Lisa, a small crease between his brows. When her brows climbed higher, he pulled away defensively. “What?”

“Nothing. He just seems like the kind of guy you would have made fun of not too long ago.”

“What, no!” He blinked and swallowed. “Okay, maybe, but he’s pretty great.”

“Pretty great even.” She smiled, her brows going even higher. “Well, I’m glad you got along with him.”

Dean huffed. “What, did you think I’d pick a fight with him and you’d have to search a new place for Ben?”

“Kind of.”

“Come on.”

She grinned at him, then glanced down at her son. “I’ve got to take care of Ben.” Shifting him in her arm, she stepped back. “Thanks for taking and bringing him.”

“No problem. Again tomorrow?”

“That would be great.”

“My pleasure.” A bright smile spread on his face before he could help it. “Work was rough then?”

“You can say that.” Lisa groaned, trying to hold up Ben and the bag. “Listen, I really need to go. Hope you didn’t get bored waiting for him. And thank you again. See you tomorrow.”

“Wait, Lis— Hey!” he called as she shut the door, leaving him standing. He threw his arms up and let them drop back down. Shaking his head, he trotted back to his car.


	2. Chapter 2

Dean entered the group’s room, as Cas took a small child, Jo, from a woman with long, brown hair. Only as they were saying their goodbyes to each other did he get close enough to hear them.

“Okay, bye, Jo,” the woman whispered as she stopped once more, brushing over the kid’s cheek. “I’ll be back soon, okay?”

“Don’t worry,” Cas said softly. “She’s tough, and she’s in good hands.”

“I know.”

“How’s it looking at work?”

The woman drew a deep breath and sighed. “We’re getting there.”

“Good.” he nodded with a faint smile. “Then maybe Jo can stay at home soon, huh?”

“Oh, I’m hoping so.” The woman smiled, taking Jo’s little hand into her own. “Can’t wait for that.”

“I’m sure she’s excited, too.” Cas shot her a smile.

“She better miss us,” the woman said and huffed, then said her goodbyes again and passed Dean on the way out.

“Hey.” Cas grinned for a second when he noticed Dean, who let out a breath, a smile tugging on his lips. A shriek came from behind Cas, and he spun around, still holding Jo. “Kevin,” he scolded. “Let it go. No, let—“ He exhaled a long breath and crossed the room, trying to motivate the small boy to ease his grip on a small toy box. “You’ve only been here for five minutes,” Cas said, resigned. “These are for everyone, okay?”

His arms still wrapped around it, Kevin shook his head, his long, black hair flopping over his eyes.

“Kevin,” Cas said, carefully keeping calm. “Would you please share your toys with everyone?”

He bit his lips, scanning the child behind Cas, who stared back with teary eyes, then back at Cas and shook his head. “No.”

“All right,” Cas gave in before turning back to the other child. “Maddy, you think you can find something else to play with for a while?”

She pulled a face, her eyes big and corners of her lips low.

“Just for a while,” he begged. “Later you can have this, okay?”

“Okay,” she said, voice small, her head hanging low, and turned around.

“Very good,” Cas said softly, and patted her back once. “I’m proud of you.”

He pushed himself back up and carefully placed Jo on a blanket in the corner, leaving her to herself and the toys, before turning to Dean. “Sorry,” he said, shaking his head.

“No problem,” he said hurriedly. “Is Charlie still not back to help?”

“No,” he mumbled, an exhausted sigh leaving him. “She’s called in, apparently they wanted to keep her another day, just to be safe. And as it seems, they’re not letting her return to work any time too soon.”

“Great. You got a replacement?”

“No,” Cas said and welcomed another child and their parent in passing. “We got the note too late again, because she didn’t know until early today. Being short-staffed anyway, we can’t do much right now. Maybe tomorrow we will get someone in, but until then—“

“Want me to help out?” Dean blurted out before he realized it.

“You’ve got enough work—“

“I’m free,” Dean said with a shrug. “I told you, I took a few days away from work.”

“Oh,” Cas said softly. “Well, if you really want to, I don’t mind.”

“Sure,” Dean said, clapping his hands, a grin spreading on his face. “Let’s do this!”

“Thank you,” Castiel said, voice soft and sincere.

“Hey, no problem.” Dean grinned and began to scan the room while Cas halted, frowning over Dean’s shoulder.

“Hey,” Castiel said, gently pushing Dean out of the way as he stepped over to the door. “Max, are you all alone?”

“Yup,” a small voice said. Dean turned around to see a small, pasty boy with red curls, who was nodding weakly.

“You parents just left?” Castiel asked in a low tone.

“Yeah,” the boy said again.

“All right, well, come in,” he sighed, putting a hand on Max’s back and guiding him into the room. Cas froze again, peeking down at the small boy with a deepening frown. “Hey, what’s that?” he asked and crouched down, inspecting the boy more closely. “Max,” he said slowly, pushing the boy’s sleeve up slightly to inspect his arms as well and fixing his eyes on the boy’s, “where did you get those bruises from?”

Max shrugged, just a small movement of his thin shoulders.

“You’re not going to get into trouble if you tell me,” Cas said with a hand resting on Max’s shoulder. “I just need to know so we can make sure you don’t get hurt more, okay?”

He bit his lip, staring at Cas for a moment.

“Don’t you want to tell me?”

He shook his head again.

“All right,” Castiel sighed with a sad look and pushed himself back up. “You can go play.”

Without hesitating, Max rushed off, happily following the request.

“Everything all right?” Dean asked carefully when Max was out of hearing range.

“I don’t know,” Castiel said quietly, frowning after Max. “Dean, could you do me a favor?”

“Sure, that’s what I’m here for.”

“Could you go into the office and get one of the directors? Someone should be there right now.”

“Sure, no problem. Anything you want me to tell them?”

He thought for a moment, shaking his head. “No, it’s better if I do it. Just tell them I need to talk to them.”

“Okay, fine.” Dean nodded and slowly stepped back, stopped, turned back around and handed Ben to Cas, then rushed off. He searched the corridor for a moment before noticing the office door. He cleared his throat knocking, waiting until someone called him in. “Hi,” he said slowly, scanning the two inside for a second. “Um, you’re the directors?”

“Yeah,” the bald man said with a single nod. “Victor Henriksen,” he introduced himself.

“Missouri Moseley,” the small woman behind the desk added with a smile.

“Hi,” Dean said again. “Uh, Dean Winchester. I’m—Cas sent me to get one of you.”

Victor groaned quietly and closed the file in his hands. “He knows there’s no one to help out. I can give him a hand later, but—”

“No! No, that’s not what it’s about. I… I don’t know actually what exactly it is, but something about one of the kids, I think?”

The two of them exchanged a quick look, then nodded once.

“All right,” Victor gave in. “I’ll come.”

“Thanks,” Dean whispered, stepping out of the way to make room for him, and followed him back down the hallway towards the room of Ben’s group.

Victor quickly greeted the kids, who watched him with curious eyes. His voice was warm and his smile soft as he made his way through the children, waving at them, before he reached Cas. “So, what do you need now?” Dean heard him ask quietly.

“Max,” Cas replied in a low tone. He leaned in close, face solemn, their voices vanishing as the kids’ noises picked up again. Dean only saw Cas gesturing at Max, as he continued to talk rapidly, with a serious look that slowly began to darken Victor’s expression as well.

“Okay,” Dean could hear Victor say as he took a step back, briefly letting his hand linger on Cas’ arm. “I’ll get her.”

“Thank you,” Cas said quietly, a weak smile on his face and let him return to the office.

Victor passed Dean on his way out, watching him suspiciously. Victor stopped again. He turned on his heels and with a questioning frown pointed at Dean.

Cas furrowed his brow in return, a confused look wandering from Victor to Dean and back.

“Who is he?”

Slowly Cas opened his mouth and closed it again, struggling to find the right words. “That’s Dean. Ben’s…um…”

“Dad,” Dean finished with a shrug. “Well, kind of.”

“What do you mean ‘kind of’?”

“You know. It’s complicated,” Dean slowly explained. “I mean, I’m not his— never mind.”

Victor eyed him for a moment, lips pursed, then returned to Cas. “You’re not letting in any strays, are you?”

“Of course not,” he said, appalled.

“All right. Just remember that there are kids here.” Victor gestured around the group. “Now I’m gonna have to get that woman.” Letting out a long breath, he hurried back off.

For a moment Dean stared after him, mouth half open, and blinked. “What the hell was that?” he asked, his voice pitching up as he spun around.

“Victor, our dire—“

“No, I know who that was,” Dean groaned, rolling his eyes. “What was that all about?”

Cas shook his head. “To be honest, I only understand half the things he says to me.”

“Great. Everything all right then, with the kid?”

“Yes, of course,” he said, a bit too hurriedly. “He’s going to be taken care of.”

“And that woman…?”

“Dean.”

“All right,” he said, holding both hands up. “I get it, no more questions asked.”

“Thank you.”

“No problem.” Dean shrugged and turned away, staring back into the crowd. “If you’ll excuse me, I think somebody is in need of someone to play with.”

A smile curled Cas’ lips for a moment, but was quickly replaced by a frown when a nearby child whined. “And I think someone is in need of a new diaper.”

“I’ll leave the fun things to you,” Dean said with a wide smile, patted Cas’ shoulder once, and sauntered off to dive into the crowd. Leaving Cas as he picked up Tamara and brought her to the changing table.

Castiel had barely finished changing the child when a knock came from the door. The knob turned and the door was pulled open a bit. Cas leaned back, frowning through the window in the door, unable to make anyone out, before a little girl’s head popped through the lower half of the door with a grin brighter than the golden hair framing it.

Castiel beamed down at the little girl as he finished wiping his hands dry and closed the cupboard beneath the sink.

“Cas,” the little girl squealed and ran over to him, quickly followed by another girl, about the same height, with dark hair tightly tied up behind her head.

“Hey, Claire! Alex!” Castiel beamed, patting their heads as they wrapped their arms around his legs. “How are you?”

“Good,” they both said.

“Look!” Alex called, pointing to the colorful images all over her arm.

“Wow,” Cas gasped theatrically, kneeling down to inspect them more closely.

“I know,” she said with a grin. “They’re cool, right?”

“They are,” Castiel agreed. “Where’d you get them?”

“I gave them to her,” Claire said firmly.

“You did? That’s very nice of you.”

Both grinned at him for a moment, then exchanged a conspiratorial look. “Cas,” Claire said slowly, “can we stay here?”

“Please,” Alex added.

“Just for a day.”

Castiel He opened his mouth to reply, drew a deep breath, and considered. “Well, Charlie is not here right now,” he said carefully, “so better not. But when she is back, you can ask Jody and Donna and stay here for a day, if you want. Okay?”

“Promise?” Claire pushed on.

“I promise.”

“You can’t break it.”

“I won’t! You can come back, but only when Charlie is back too.”

“When is she back?” Alex asked.

“We don’t know yet,” Castiel said quietly. “But I’ll make sure to tell the two so they can tell you.”

“Okay,” they decided.

“Good.” He smiled back, and got back up, guiding them back to the door. “So what’s new with you?”

“We’re married now,” Claire announced.

“You are?” He smiled. “Well, congrats.”

“Thanks,” she grinned back.

He shot a look over his shoulder, searching for Dean in the crowd. “Now, how can we get you two back to class?”

“We can go alone.”

“Can you?” he asked, his brows shooting up.

They shared another guilty look.

“Do Jody and Donna even know you are here?”

“No.”

“You really need to stop breaking rules,” he said firmly. “Maybe I can get you back to your room in a moment.” Just as he had spoken the words, Jody appeared behind the small window in the door. She scanned the room for a moment, before slipping in.

“Oh, good,” Cas said in relief and stood.

“You two are so much trouble.”

“Cas wants us to stay!” Claire argued and shuffled closer to him.

“Once Charlie is back,” he reminded her firmly.

“But we can come back!”

“Yes, I promised,” he reassured them, gently pushing them into the direction of Jody, who waved apologetically and shut the door. Her voice sounded through the door for a second. Cas closed his eyes and let out a lengthy sigh.

“And who was that?” Dean asked, coming over, ignoring the kid that was still tugging on his arm. “Your adopted children?”

“Something like that,” Castiel said with a vague smile.

Before he could elaborate further, another child came running up to him, eyes big and tears welling up as he held out his hand to Cas.

“Did you get hurt?” he asked, voice filled with quiet concern.The child nodded, lips pulling down. “Let me look at it.” Castiel crouched down lower, inspecting the child’s hand for a second. “Well, it doesn’t look too bad.”

“Want me to blow on it so it gets better?” Dean asked with a smile, crouching down by Cas’ side.

For a second the child stared at Dean, then nodded.

“All right, come here,” he said, pulling the kid closer and carefully blew cold air onto his hand. “Better?”

“Yeah,” he mumbled and swallowed.

“Good.” Dean grinned.

“How did that happen?” Cas asked, brows tightly furrowed.

A second long he held his hand. “Ansm,” he said quietly and pouted.

“Anseem?” Cas repeated. “Did he step on your hand?”

He nodded again.

“All right,” Castiel sighed and got back up. “I’ll talk to him. And you go back to playing, okay?” he added more gently, ruffling his hair.

“You never get a break here, do you?” Dean asked, getting up as well.

“No, not really,” Castiel mumbled, scanning the crowd. “Sorry, I need to talk to that kid.” Without giving Dean the time to reply, he pushed past him. “Anseem,” he growled, leveling a stern look at the boy, who jerked up and stared at him as Cas rushed forward. “Here. Now.”

With a pained look on his face, Dean watched him scold the child, until another hand tugged on his hand, making him turn around.

“You wanna build something with me?” a small boy asked loudly.

“Yeah, sure.” He shrugged, a smile curling his lips, and trotted after the kid, over to the building blocks in the corner. “Ash, right?”

For some time they continued following their own projects here and there. A few moments later, Cas attempted to call them together, unable to make anyone take note of him, as the children were highly focussed on their play time. Dean quickly gestured at Cas and back to himself, then around at the children, his brows climbing up. For a second Cas stood still, staring at him with furrowed brows. He tilted his head slightly, before halfheartedly shrugging and nodding. Dean gave him two thumbs up and stepped over to the shelf in the corner.

“Hey,” he called out, holding up a book, and the room went quiet within the blink of an eye, not a single child stirring. “Who wants me to read them a story?”

Almost deafening, high-pitched screams broke out. Both men twitched with the urge to cover their ears.

“Okay,” Dean said again, more firmly, and raised a finger to his lips. “Okay, but you’ve got to be very quiet and listen, all right?”

The room went quiet again, leaving an excited buzz hanging in the air.

“Good.” Dean grinned and dropped himself to the ground. “Come on, come here, sit down. And after the story, you’ll be nice and take your nap.”

Several okays and yeps came from the crowd, along with enthusiastic nods, and Dean exchanged a quick look with Cas, who was  watching him with a faint smile.

“Okay,” Dean said again, only slowly tearing his eyes off Castiel. He began  to read the story out loud, the kids huddling closer to him as he read.

The story wasn’t very long, so Dean finished it quickly. He closed the book quietly, and scanned the group, still staring at him with their mouths open and eyes wide. “And now, we go and nap, okay?” he whispered, and slowly everyone got up to get to it.

Dean got up as well, crossing the room over to Cas, who watched the kids with amazement. “That was very good,” he said quietly when the kids began to curl up on their mats. “Thank you.”

“Hey, that’s what I’m here for.” Dean grinned.

A second long Cas only smiled back. “Come on, we should put Ben and Jo to bed.”

“Sure,” Dean agreed with a quick nod and went to pick up Ben. He  carried Ben up and down the room, swaying him, until he was sleepy enough to be put down.

Turning around, he saw Cas still swaying Jo gently. After a moment, he too put her down, whispering, “Sleep, okay?”

Curious, Dean stepped over, watching the small child in her crib. “Aww, hey,” he said, a grin spreading on his face when she first pouted, then smiled up at him. “Aren’t you cute?”

“Dean, please don’t,” Cas murmured and shook his head, his expression falling. “She needs to sleep.”

“Come on, she wants to play,” he said, beaming.

“You’re just riling her up,” Castiel sighed, and pulled him away from the crib.

“No, hey,” Dean protested quietly. “But she’s so cute.”

“Yes, they’re all very cute if you stay long enough,” he whispered, guiding him back to the chairs in the corner. “They also all throw up, if you stay long enough. Or—” he turned his head just in time to see one of the kids pick her nose and smear what was on her finger over the ground. “Or do that,” he said, holding his stare at her until she noticed and quickly curled up, hiding her face from him. He exhaled a lengthy breath and shook his head. “Excuse me,” he said. “I need to clean that up.”

Dean huffed and nodded at him, watching him grab a cloth and clean the floor quickly.

When he came back and dropped himself next to Dean again, Dean was still grinning at him. “You have a great job.”

“Tell me about it.”

“So,” Dean said firmly and leaned forwards, “who were those kids earlier? If that’s not too personal or something,” he added, blushing slightly.

Castiel thought for a second, slight confusion playing over his face before he shifted in his seat with the hint of a smile on his face. “They were Alex and Claire. Two girls from another group.”

“They used to be in this one?”

“No. But last year, when I was new here and still being trained, I kind of circled through the groups, helping out here and there, a different group each day. So I met kids from all kinds of groups. Somehow, Claire and Alex just kind of… stuck. We got along, I suppose.” He swallowed once, absentmindedly playing with his cup. “Or maybe it’s because her father and I look very similar and he’s gone now. But even before that we got along.”

“Then why didn’t you stay with their group?”

“Now you sound like them,” Castiel mumbled with a guilty look. “They didn’t need anyone in their group. Jody and Donna are more than capable, and have been working together in that group for a long time. But Charlie’s former colleague had to leave, so this group needed someone. I suppose I could have switched with someone if I had really wanted to, but… like I said, I found it easier to work with small children.”

“Oh, I get that,” Dean said and turned his head back to Jo, who was lazily kicking her legs up. “They’re adorable.”

“But hard work.”

“Easier than the older ones?”

“Sometimes, I suppose. At least for me.” He thought for a second and weighed his head. “As long as I don’t have to take care of too many at once, that is.”

Dean laughed quietly. “You deserve a break once that Charlie is back, huh?”

“That wouldn’t make things better,” he mumbled. “She’d be as overwhelmed as me now. Well, I guess,” he added with a frown. “Who knows, maybe she’s better at this.”

“Come on, you’re doing fine,” Dean said softly and patted his shoulder once. “Really. Hey, have you heard anything yet? When she’ll come back, I mean?”

“We only know the doctors wanted to keep her in for another few checks. I suppose we will find out if she can work Monday or not.”

“So another last minute notice?”

“I hope not,” Cas said, going pale with horror.

“If not, she definitely owes you,” Dean said with a smirk.

“It’s not her fault. From what I understand, she kept nagging the doctors, they just didn’t tell her anything.”

“I know, I’m just saying. If she doesn’t come back and you’re worn down, maybe you can take a few days away from work.”

“Then she’d get overworked and need to take time away, which would leave me alone—”

“Unless they can figure out how to get a replacement this time.”

“Well, yes, I suppose that’s true.”

“See?”

“Still.”

“Fine, keep working then,” Dean gave in with a sigh and waved it off. “What are you gonna do if she doesn’t come back?”

“No idea. But I have the weekend,” Castiel murmured, “so I hope that by Monday I will be a bit more… um…”

“Relaxed?” Dean helped out, his brows raised.

“Yes.”

“Well, good luck with that.”

“Thanks,” Castiel said, voice soft. “What about you? Are you going to return to your job?”

For a second Dean’s mouth stood open and he blinked a few times. “I don’t know,” he admitted. “We’ll see how Lisa gets along, I guess. If she could need a bit more time in the mornings, just to have less to do, or if she misses him too much, or whatever else.”

“I see,” Castiel said, staring into the distance with an unreadable expression. “Well, from my side, you can always come back,” he said with a weak smile.

“Oh, don’t say that, I might take you up on it,” Dean said with a halfhearted grin.

“Good,” Castiel replied with a nod, his face remaining perfectly composed, not betraying any emotion. Dean watched him for a second, unsure what to make of it.

“Anyway,” he said after a long, eerily quiet moment. “What… what woman did Victor mean?”

Cas opened his mouth and held in a breath for a second. “A social worker.”

“Social worker?”

“Dean, I’m not sure I should tell you this,” Cas admitted with a pained expression. “Those things should be confidential and I wouldn’t tell another parent, so I don’t think I should tell you. Even if you’re a great help, and I’m sure you would make an equally great parent, or teacher—“

“Hey,” Dean said quietly, holding a hand up. “You don’t want to risk it, that’s fine. I get it. And I’m not going to ask again.”

“Thank you.”

Silence fell again, and Dean nodded slowly to himself, wringing his hands. “So,” he said after a long moment, “what about your bosses?”

“What about them?”

“You get along.”

“Of course.”

“They seem kind of intimidating.”

“They are very nice.”

Dean nodded once. “Okay, good talk.”

Cas furrowed his brows tightly, and pressed his lips into a thin line. “Can I ask you something?”

“Sure,” Dean said hurriedly. “Whatever you want.”

“Why do you really stay here?”

“Sorry, what?” Dean asked with a nervous laugh.

“I’m just curious. You aren’t really overly worried about Ben, and you don’t work here of course.”

“I like being here.” Dean shrugged.

“I thought this many children would easily drive you out of here.”

“Well, they could,” Dean huffed. “But so far, it’s been pretty relaxed. Not for you, but for me. I could play with the kids and read to them… It was fun.”

“Really?”

“Yeah,” Dean laughed. “You got all the tough tasks, I guess, but for me it was great. You have no idea what a change that is from fixing cars all the time.”

“I can imagine. But not a big change from taking care of Ben.”

Dean shrugged. “I don’t know,” he mumbled. “The other kids are older, understand me better, can play along. And there’s more of them, obviously. I’m gonna be honest, I think I’ll be glad when I’m back to having a few hours alone with him, but this is more fun, for a few days at least. So yeah, I like being here. Plus, you aren’t too bad either,” he added with a grin, receiving a puzzled look in return. Castiel’s brows were furrowed, but after a moment pink quickly crept up his cheeks and he turned away, sputtering.

“Thank you,” Cas said after a beat, peeking back at Dean, the same expression on his face, before turning away again.

“But it probably won’t last too long, right?” Dean asked after a second and cleared his throat.

“I guess not.”

“Has your enthusiasm about this all already plummeted?”

“Repeatedly,” Cas said dryly.

Dean’s brows shot up and he blinked once, shaking his head. “So, you hate your job, or what?”

“No, of course not. I love it. It’s exhausting, and tiring, but I do. Perhaps it has to do with how each of us—” he cut off, when one of the children climbed up to her legs and, eyes half closed, trotted over to them.

“Hey,” Cas said softly, slid off the chair and crouched down to her, holding her. “What’s wrong?”

“My tummy,” she mumbled with a frown and rubbed her eye with her small fist.

“Does it hurt?”

She nodded, her head hanging low.

“Do you want me to call your parents to pick you up?” He ran a hand over her head, letting it rest on her forehead for a second, feeling her temperature.

She shrugged weakly staring at the ground with glassy eyes.

“All right. We’ll call your parents. Do you think you’re going to be sick?”

She shrugged again.

“Do you want to go to the bathroom?” Her frown grew deeper, but she didn’t respond. “All right,” Castiel said softly and smoothed her hair. “Lie back down and try to sleep a bit more, okay?”

“Okay,” she mumbled and trotted back down. Cas pushed himself up and turned around to Dean.

“Could you go to the office and ask Missouri to call for someone to pick up Madison?”

“Yeah, sure.” He got up and nodded to himself once, a brow arched and his gaze distant. “There’s no way that can go wrong.”

“I would go, but I think it might be better if someone’s here, just in case.”

“No, I know.” He hung his head. “You can’t leave them with me.”

“Only because you don’t know protocol—or what to do when all hell breaks loose,” Castiel clarified softly.

“No, I really meant that,” Dean calmed with a huff. “I know what you mean. If that Madison kid vomits on me—Okay, I’m going,” he added quickly. He pointed over his shoulder with an apologetic look and rushed out.

He slid into the office of Missouri and Victor with his best, most charming smile, and slid his hands into his pockets. “Hi. Cas wanted me to tell you that someone needs to pick up Madison. She isn’t feeling well, so he thought—”

“We got it,” Victor cut him off with a tight lipped smile, silencing Dean instantly.

His brows high and mouth open, Dean nodded slowly. “Okay, good.”

“We’ll call her parents,” Missouri assured him.

“Great, thanks.”

“That’s our job, boy.” She rolled her eyes, as he smiled faintly and set to leave again.

Just before he closed the door, Dean could hear Missouri sigh as she picked up the phone. “Every month that kid gets sick. Those parents need to find a doctor for the poor kid.”

“Well, you know some parents—” Victor muttered, but Dean heard no more when he closed the door and set into motion.

Quietly Dean slipped into the room, careful not to let the door close too loudly. He turned on his heels, opening his mouth, and closed it instantly, seeing Cas kneeling next to the girl, curled up with her arms around her belly, and  brightly colored vomit on the ground next to him.

He ran a hand through her hair again, then shot Dean a look and pointed at the sink. Puzzled, Dean went over to it, not sure what he was supposed to do. Cas pointed again. Still not sure, Dean shook his head and scanned the sink. He pointed at the doors underneath and looked back at Cas, unsure. Cas nodded quickly, and Dean opened them, searching until he found a bright, pink plastic bucket, containing several other items. Brows raised, he held it up, and Cas nodded.

“Thanks,” Cas whispered, taking the bucket from Dean. He quickly slipped into a pair of gloves he took from the bucket, and began to clean off the vomit. His cheeks went slightly pink with exhaustion as he scrubbed, kneeling on all fours, a curl falling into his face.

(Dean watched, noticing that Cas did, in fact, look hot even up to his elbows in a child’s vomit.)

Once the floor was cleaned, Cas whispered a few more words of comfort and climbed back to his feet. Careful to stay quiet, he snuck through the room.

He slipped back out of the gloves and dumped them into the trash. “So,” he said quietly and turned around, brows furrowed tightly. “Where were we?”

Staring at him in disbelief, Dean scoffed. “After that, you can just go back to normal chit chat?”

“Why not?”

Dean shook his head with a faint smile. He stared into the distance for a moment. “I think we were talking about how much you love your job even though it sucks,” he said, smile warming.

“Oh. Well,” Castiel said, shrugging and smirking faintly, “it’s true. It has certain negative aspects to it, but it’s worth it.”

“A kid’s smile makes up for it all, huh?” Dean asked with a grin, his eyes glowing. He leaned backwards against the wall.

“Pretty much, yes.”

Dean laughed, trying to keep quiet, and shook his head.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

“Dean. You’ve got Ben, you know part of it.”

“Yeah, but he is different. His diapers are gross, but not that gross.”

“It’s not just that—though, you will find that once you spend some time with other kids, you feel like that about most of them. You see them grow here, you spend long periods of time with them.” Castiel shrugged. “You tend to grow fond of them, and they of you. It’s not the same as being a parent, but you play a role in their life, and they see you as someone they can approach and,” he shrugged, “most of them turn out to like you.”

Lost in thought, Dean nodded slowly. “Yeah, I can kind of understand that.” He shrugged, a smile curling his lips and one brow arching ever so slightly. “If I get that with Ben, that’s good enough.”

“Why wouldn’t you?”

“I don’t know,” Dean mumbled, turning his head. “Maybe I won’t stay in his life. Or he’ll hate me,” he added with a shaking laugh, eyes darting up to the windows.

“Why would he hate you?” Cas turned further towards him, his brows tightly furrowed.

“I just mean that you never know. Maybe I embarrass him when he’s a kid and he never wants to see me again.”

“Children don’t get that upset.”

“Then something else. You know what I’m trying to say.”

“I do. But Dean, I don’t think there is any reason for you to worry about your relationship with Ben.”

“I’m just worried, that’s all. He and I are just starting to get along. He smiles when he sees me, and I’m really starting to like the little guy, but there is no way I’m gonna be in his life forever.”

“Well, no,” Cas agreed with a deep-seated frown. “Eventually you are going to die and leave him behind. Unless of course he dies before, due to a tragic accident or a disease—”

“Cas,” Dean cut him off sharply, his eyes closed and his breathing carefully steady. “That’s not what I meant.”

Cas’ eyes darted over Dean’s face. “Oh. You just meant that you will part ways before he is fully grown.”

“Yeah. Or maybe even before he’s old enough to remember me later. Not sure if that’s better or worse,” Dean admitted. “I mean, if he doesn’t remember me, at least he can’t miss me, right?”

“I suppose not. But you would know.”

“Yeah.” Dean let his gaze fall, grinding his teeth for a moment.

Cas threw a glance at his watch. “Nap time’s almost over. They will wake up in a moment. And someone should be here to pick up Madison in a moment,” he added, throwing a look out the window in the door, down the mostly empty hallways.

“Anything else I can do?”

“Only if you want to comfort her.”

Instantly Dean pulled a face, shifting away.

“I understand.”

“Not that I—”

“I understand, Dean.” Crossing his arms, he frowned over at her, thinking for a second. “I’ll go. If her parents arrive—“

“I’ll point them your direction.”

“Thanks.”

A second later Castiel had crossed the room again, crouched down by her side, and continued to run a hand through her hair. He almost missed the door opening, until he saw Dean gesture at him from the corner of his eye.

“Maddy,” her father whispered, joining Cas by his side. “Feeling sick again?” He let out a worried sigh. “Thank you,” he added towards Castiel. “And sorry.”

“I’m sure you do what you can.”

“They just won’t find anything,” he whispered, desperate.

“The doctors must have missed something. Or maybe it’s psychosomatic.”

Her father shot him a dark look. “Are you saying my daughter’s nuts?”

“I’m saying perhaps there is something she is scared of or reacts to in some other way.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about. Children get sick—your hippie solutions don’t have a place in that.”

“You wouldn’t say that if Charlie had suggested it,” Cas muttered, gaze trailing down.

Her father shook his head, looking at his daughter, then carefully picked her up. “We’ll get you back to bed quick, Maddy.” He stood up and said goodbye to Cas tersely, then left.

“At least you don’t smell like vomit now,” Dean mumbled when Cas came back over.

“This time, that is.”

“Do you usually?” A reluctant smirk tugged on his lips.

“Only when one of them throws up on me.”

“Please tell me they don’t do that anymore. It’s bad enough when Ben does it, and that’s basically just milk. And he’s like my own kid.”

“It does happen sometimes. They can’t control it.”

“Sounds like fun.”

“There is worse.”

Dean weighed his head for a second, considering Castiel’s words. Then he gave him a reluctant nod. Cas glanced down at his watch and stood up. “Nap time’s almost over.”

“Want me to set up some drawing stuff?”

“Sure, if you want.” A surprised smile came to Castiel’s face.

“Great.” Dean rubbed his hands together and went searching for the right wardrobe.

One by one the children woke up, Rubbing their eyes, they trotted through the room, waking each other or searching for Castiel to comfort them. Both Dean and Cas reveled in the silence as long as it still lasted.

For a while the two of them wandered around, careful not to be too loud. Cas quietly tried to coil them over to the table. For a few minutes, the children seemed to only sit and blankly stare at the items on the table. Soon, though, Dean found himself bombarded with deafening screams and laughter, and children running through his legs. Only Ben and Jo managed to nap through the noise, leaving Dean to wonder how.

Cas took a stand in front of the children, trying to speak through the noise. He easily caught kids running too fast and pulled them back to the table, until most were seated around the table.

Still squealing and screaming, the children gathered around the table in the middle of the room to draw, filling the white paper with colours.

“Here!” Lenore grinned proudly as she handed Cas her picture after some time.

He beamed at the bright colours scattered over the paper. “Wow, that is great.”

“It’s for Charlie!”

“You want me to give it to her?”

She nodded firmly.

“I want to draw something for Charlie, too!” Benny called.

“Yeah, me too,” Krissy agreed, and within seconds all voices mixed up, shouting across each other.

“All right, all right,” Cas called firmly, his low voice cutting through theirs, and shushed them again. “You can all draw something for Charlie if you want,” he explained with a smile. “There are enough crayons for everyone. I’m sure she will appreciate all your pictures.”

“And maybe,” Dean added, stepping up to his side, “the more you draw, the sooner she comes back.”

The children broke out into cheers and stormed at the papers and crayons scattered over the table, drawing frantically.

“But I was first!” Lenore whined with a deep pout.

“I know,” Cas assured her. “And that’s why I’ll put yours on top of all the others. Then Charlie will see it first.”

“Yeah?” she asked, a  bright grin spreading on her face.

“Promise.” He winked at her and she grinned back, even happier, before running back to the tables, picking up another piece of paper, and telling the others that she would draw another picture for Charlie.

A moment long Cas only stood, watching the children draw enthusiastically without talking to each other.

“If you had known this works so well you could’ve done it earlier,” Dean whispered with a grin, leaning into Cas.

“I should do this every day.”

“Charlie’s not always gonna be sick.”

“Someone will be. Other kids, other teachers, Missouri, Victor. Maybe they would make something for you when you leave again.”

“Now that’s a good idea!”

Cas smiled to himself. Then his head snapped around, and a crease appeared between his brows as he tilted his head back and forth, trying to see through the heads. “Benny. Benny! What are you doing?” He set forward. “Leave the babies alone.”

“Ben and Jo can’t draw for Charlie!” Benny whined, holding Ben’s hand in one hand and crayons in the other. “But they need to give her something too.”

Placing his hands against his hips, Cas let out a long sigh. “That is a very nice gesture,” he admitted slowly, “but you can’t just paint their hands.”

Benny pulled a face at Cas. Slowly he turned back to Ben, and guided the colours to his face.

“Don’t paint his face either. Don’t paint any parts of Jo or Ben—or any other child who hasn’t asked you to.”

“You let the kids paint each other if they want to?” Dean asked, eyes narrowed.

Sighing, Cas turned to him. “Do you want to have that argument with them?”

“Fine, I’ll shut up.” Dean held his hands up, taking a small step back. “No arguing from me.”

“Good.” Castiel nodded, brows high.

A quiet knock came from the door, which was pulled open just a second later. Missouri carefully peeked in. “Cas?” she called, waving him over. He gave her a quick nod back and excused himself from Benny, then got to his feet and hurried towards the door, waving at Dean to dismiss his curious, concerned look.

Dean crossed the room to Jo and picked her up, away from Benny. Letting her sway back and forth with quiet coos, he kept throwing glances back over his shoulder at Missouri and Cas, who exchanged quick, hushed words, until Missouri stepped aside and a slim, pale hand reached through the gap to shake Castiel’s.

Dean quickly spun his head away when he noticed Castiel turn around. He slowly turned back around, wary of being caught peeking, to see Cas point through the room, continuously talking to the person outside.

Cas gave the slim, new woman one final nod, held a finger up, and came through the room again. “Max?” he asked quietly, staying a few feet away from him. “Could you come here for a second?”

For a second, Max stared at him with big eyes and his mouth open.

“Don’t worry, it’s nothing bad,” Castiel said with a smile. “Just someone who would like to see you.”

While Cas stood in the middle of the room, Dean threw another look back at the door, able to catch a glimpse at the young woman Cas had been talking to, whose long, brunette locks were falling over the tan coat she had tightly wrapped around herself.

Max pondered for another second before climbing up and walking over to Cas, who took his hand and guided him to the door, again flashing Dean a brief, apologetic look when he noticed him watching. Dean quickly turned away again, blushing furiously as he returned his attention to Jo, who was playing with his fingers, trying to bend them apart.

“Max,” Cas started as he led him up to the two women, “this is Bela. She needs to ask you a few questions, okay?”

“Hi, Max,” she said gently, crouching down to be on eye level with him, and shook his hand.

“Don’t worry,” Missouri added with a smile when she saw the look on Max’s face. “I’m going to stay with you two and make sure everything’s fine.”

“Is that okay?” Cas asked quietly, running a hand over Max’s hair.

For a moment Max scanned the two women, biting at his lips, then nodded.

“Okay, good,” Cas said. “I will go back inside now, but Missouri stays with you, and if you need me, I will come back.”

“Yeah?” Max asked, his voice cracking.

“Of course,” Cas soothed. “I promise, I will, but you need to let me go back now, okay?”

Very slowly, Max loosened his grip on Castiel and let him go.

Cas patted his head once more, then turned back and went back into the classroom.

“Sit down,” Cas heard Missouri say quietly. “You don’t have to say anything you don’t want, but this is to help you, okay?”

Castiel closed the door behind himself. He exhaled a lengthy breath before stepping further into the room, putting his smile back on and reaching out to the children.

“Everything okay?” Dean asked as Castiel passed him.

“Sure,” Cas said with a nod, a shaking breath fluttering past his lips..

“Really?”

Cas weighed his head for a moment. “Yeah. It’s all fine.”

“All right,” Dean gave in, returning his attention to Jo in one arm, and Ben crawling onto his lap to join her. Cas shot him another weak smile before turning around to observe who needed his help and attention.

After several long minutes, the door opened again, both Dean’s and Cas’ heads shooting around to it. They saw Bela carefully bring Max back into the room, just when Cas had both hands full. He turned to look at Dean, shooting him a helpless look. Dean nodded once, carefully placing Jo and Ben side by side on the ground before getting up and crossing the room to Bela’s side.

“He’ll be here in a moment,” Dean excused him.

“Of course.” Bela nodded, a tight smile on her face.

Awkward silence stretched between them. “So,” Dean said slowly to fill the void. “You are that…”

“Bela,” she filled in and nodded once.

“Bela?” he repeated, his brows shooting up. “What, like Bela Lugosi?”

“That’s the one.”

“That’s cute,” he huffed. “Horror-fan parents?”

“Horror is right.”

“They must be great.”

“Oh yeah, they were lovely people,” she said with a cold smile. “And you are… who exactly?”

“I’m Dean.”

She raised her brows, cocking her head slightly in a silent question.

“I– I’m Ben’s… Dad or something.”

“Or something,” she repeated flatly.

“You know, it’s… it’s complicated.”

“I can see that,” she said, and pulled out a notepad and pen. “A parent—or someone who is not even that—spending all day with their child. Abandonment issues?”

“What? No!”

“Perhaps a check would be in order?” she asked, brows raised even further. “What’s his full name?”

“No, no, you stop that,” he ordered.

“I’ve got his full name,” Missouri said. “I can give it to you.”

“Thank you,” Bela said with a sweet smile at her.

“Hey!” Dean protested.

“And I’m also gonna have to have a word with Cas,” she added, while he slowly came back over to them, and pushed Dean out of the way.

“Thank you,” Bela said quietly, and gently pushed him to go.

“Yeah, no problem,” Dean stuttered, cheeks slightly flushed.

“So, what did you decide?” Cas asked quietly while Dean walked back away.

“Well,” Bela said slowly, “it definitely requires another check.” She nodded, stuffing the notepad back into her bag. “I will talk to his parents, but looks like you had the right instinct. It’s good you called me.”

Cas nodded slowly, biting at his lower lip. “I was afraid you’d say that. But I’m glad you are checking in on him.”

“Well, it’s my job, isn’t it?”

“Of course, yes. But I thank you for making it here so quickly.”

“No problem. I was already coming here anyway.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

She huffed. “It was nothing.

“Can I ask you something?” Missouri threw in. “What abuot that Dean? What is he doing here? He should have left hours ago.”

“No, I—I know,” Castiel said slowly. “I just… Missouri, Charlie isn’t here, we barely get any help from other groups, Victor refused to get me someone new, I can’t handle this entirely on my own, and Dean has a child. He knows what he’s doing, and he’s great with the kids. So, I let him stay a bit longer just to be on the safe side. I can’t change diapers, feed children and make sure they don’t kill themselves at the same time. So unless you want to help me yourself, Dean is the best option I’ve got.”

“Don’t you ever take that tone with me,” Missouri said quietly, her eyes piercing him.

Castiel let out a long breath, his lips tight. “All I’m saying is that I can’t handle this alone. I need someone to help out, and Dean handles this all very well. The kids like him, he likes them, it works. It’s either that or we need to close the group.”

A moment long Missouri stood, arms crossed and lips pursed, scanning him carefully. “You checked him?”

“Of course I did.”

“And you’re sure he can be trusted?”

“Yes, I am. Lisa knows him and trusts him, I’ve seen his ID, and I’ve seen him with the children.”

“Well, fine,” Missouri said slowly, “but you better be careful with him.”

“I am careful.”

“And don’t let him linger around here too much, okay?”

“He’s got a job, Missouri.”

“Or maybe he’s just saying that,” Bela threw in.

Cas let out a long breath, rolling his eyes. “He is not lying. Lisa told me about him before, I know he isn’t lying.”

“Okay, whatever you choose,” Missouri said quietly. “But you keep the kids safe.”

“Of course,” he said with an appalled look. “Trust me, I know what I’m doing.”

“You say that…” Missouri said and let out a long breath, then threw her hands up.

“Do you trust me?”

She held her gaze fixed on him for a long moment. “Yeah, I do. I don’t know why, but I do. Fine, do what you want. But I don’t know about this, and if anything goes wrong, you take the responsibility for it.”

“Of course,” Castiel said with an obedient nod. He shot a look over his shoulder, watching Dean carefully wipe drool from the corner of a child’s mouth, while another two were tugging on him, and one more spilled a jar of glitter over the table. “I should get back,” he said, his frown deepening, and the others quickly returned to the office to finish filing the papers for Bela, while Cas spun around, and dove back into the chaos, picking it apart alongside Dean. Only when the worst was taken care of did they find themselves stopping, eyes fixed on each other, sharing a long, soft gaze until their attention was forced away again.

The first chance they had to settle and breathe again, they had barely sat down, idly watching the kids play, occasionally helping them build something with blocks around them, when a gentle knock came from the door. Lisa stuck her head through the gap.

“Hey,” she said softly and stepped in, a friendly smile on her face that grew bigger when she spotted her son. She quickly swooped him up, whispering at him as she stroked his head.

Dean numbly blinked at her a few times, his brows high. “What are you doing here?” he asked softly, arms spread.

“I wanted to pick Ben up.”

“I could have done that,” Dean said, his voice pitching slightly too high. “I would have brought him home, you know that.”

“Yes, I know, but I forgot to say, we’ve got a doctor’s appointment we really need to get to, and we were going to visit my parents over the weekend anyway, so I can just do it all in one go.”

“Oh, yeah, that makes sense,” Dean said quietly, sinking into himself.

“But what are you doing here?”

Dean jerked up slightly, his brows high. “I was just…” he gestured around with a numb look. “I was just kind of helping out.”

“Right,” she said with a smile and a slow nod. She turned her head, scanning the room, then turned back to Cas. “Is Charlie back?”

Lips tight, Castiel quickly shook his head. “I’m afraid not. The doctors wanted to give her another look.”

“That’s why I’m here,” Dean announced with a proud smile lighting his face up.

“Yeah,” Lisa said. “That’s why.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

She shook her head, trying to bite down a grin, and turned back to Cas.

“Anything I can do for you?” Cas asked.

“No, I just wanted to tell her something,” she waved off. “And see how she has been doing.”

“She says she is fine, but they want to be certain,” Cas explained. “I think being bound to the hospital is a bigger problem than the accident.”

“Oh, I can imagine that. Well, I hope she’s all right.”

“I’m sure she is.”

“Okay,” she nodded, stroking Ben’s head once more, “we should go.”

“I hope your appointment goes well,” Cas said, patting Ben on the back.

“It’s just a little check up,” she said. “And he’s so brave. It’s going to be fine.”

“All right,” Castiel said with a smirk. “Then have fun, you two.”

“And don’t let grandma and grandpa eat you up,” Dean added, taking Ben’s little hand between his fingers and shaking it.

“Dean…”

“You know what I mean.”

She shook her head with an exasperated sigh, said her goodbyes again, made Ben wave at the two who happily waved back, and headed back down the hall to the exit. Dean watched the door for another moment. 

“Are you okay?” Cas asked, watching Dean while he helped one of the girls tie the knot on her bracelet again.

“What?” Dean asked, spinning around, brows raised. “Yeah. Yeah, sure.”

“You miss him, don’t you?”

“Come on, he’s only been gone for five seconds!”

“So?”

Dean was struck silent, only staring at Castiel.

“If you want,” Castiel said slowly, stretching his back when the little girl happily rushed off, inspecting her tightened bracelet, “you can go home, of course. It’s not your job to be here, after all.”

“No, no, I like being here, I told you. Could be awkward,” he admitted, “since I said I was here for Ben and he’s not even here, but I’m having fun with this. Unless you want me to go.”

“God, no,” Castiel blurted out before he could stop it, then stared at Dean with parted lips. A smirk played around Dean’s lips when he saw Cas blush and stammer. “Because it’s nice to have an extra pair of hands,” he explained hurriedly and turned away, suddenly finding himself incredibly invested in helping Kevin, sitting on the ground close to the two, figure out his toy. “But you are free to go whenever you want.”

“Yeah, I got that,” Dean said, smirking at the back of Castiel’s head. “But I have to say, I’m pretty happy to stay here.”

“Good,” Cas said, nodding quickly. “I’m sure the kids appreciate it too. Right, Kevin?”

“No,” Kevin said quietly.

“Kevin.”

“Great,” Dean sighed theatrically. “I feel so loved.”

“He’s just—He doesn’t mean it.”

“It’s fine, Cas.”

“Believe me,” Cas added, “when you want to leave, they will beg you to stay.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t count on that.”

“I would. Believe me, I’ve seen it happen so many times. Maybe they don’t get how much they want someone to stay until they realise it’s going to change.”

A moment long, Dean only stared at him, his expression softening. “Yeah,” he said quietly. The room stilled for him, leaving him unable to estimate how much time had passed, as he watched Castiel play with Kevin, quietly laughing along with him, until he was nudged hard and shaken out of his trance. He swirled around, staring into Tamara’s deeply brown eyes.

“My shoe,” she said, and pointed down at the open laces.

“You want me to tie it?”

“Yeah!”

“Okay,” he complied, sliding off the seat and down to a knee to tie it back up. Before he could tie the knot, she pulled away.

“No!” she yelled. “You’re not doing it right.”

“I think I know how to tie a shoe.”

“Not like that.”

“I think yes.”

“No, it’s wrong,” she insisted.

“Tamara!” Cas called over, barely looking up. “Let him tie your shoe.”

“But it’s wrong.”

“I’m sure it will hold.” She pouted at him, frowning deeply. “You can either let him tie it, or you leave your laces open.”

Still pouting, she pushed her foot back forwards and let Dean tie a little bow on it. “That’s not too bad, right?” he asked with a grin.

“It’s not like the other.”

“Want me to re-tie that one too?”

“No.”

“Then it’s good enough.”

She frowned again, and stomped back off.

“Well, that one went downhill,” Dean sighed and collapsed back into the chair. “I thought she liked me, our little Pirate queen.”

Cas chuckled quietly, a rare genuine smile beaming at Dean, who briefly clenched at the unexpected sight.

“Are you sure you don’t want to leave?”

“Seriously, Cas. You’re not gonna get rid of me that easy. I’ll stay—stop asking.”

“Fine,” Castiel said with a faint smirk, then nodded, turning back to the kids.

“You think you can live with that?”

“Of course.”

“That’s probably a first,” Dean mumbled, his grin dropping slightly.

“I’m sure that’s not true.”

Dean shrugged, pulling a face. “I don’t know.”

“Well, in that case,” Castiel said and pushed himself up again, “it should be.”

“Oh, you’re a real sweetheart, you know that?” Dean asked dryly.

Cas opened his mouth, then closed it. He turned around and stepped away again, crouching down to a small group of kids. Dean watched for another moment, a faint smile on his face.

The hours passed, and the day came to an end. The room cleared further, as one parent after the other picked up their child, until almost none were left. Dean packed up the last remaining things Lisa hadn’t taken with her. Behind him, Max trotted over to Cas and tapped his arm. “I wanna go home.”

“I’m sure someone will be here any moment,” Cas assured him with an unconvincing smile, and Max shook his head.

“I can go alone.”

“You can’t go home alone,” Cas said with a shocked frown. Max pulled a face, a deep cleft between his brows, his lips trembling slightly. “Max, listen,” he added more softly and took the child’s small hands into his own, “even if you could, I wouldn’t be allowed to just let you go alone. Tell you what, we wait a bit longer, and then we can go to Missouri and Victor, and we will get your father—or someone else—to come here, okay? I’ll wait with you.”

“But I want home,” Max mumbled again, shoulders hanging low.

“You’ll get home, I promise,” Castiel said again and stroked over his head, as Dean stepped over, hesitating for a moment, waiting until Cas turned to him.

“I—um, I should go,” he said slowly, pointing over his shoulder.

“Of course.” Cas nodded, climbing back to his feet.

“Or… do you want me to stay?”

“It’s fine, Dean, you are free to leave.”

“I know that, it just doesn’t seem right to go when the kid is stuck here.”

“He’s not stuck. Someone will pick him up in a minute.”

“Yeah, but—“ he shot a look at Max and back up to Cas. “‘Course he will, but shouldn’t I wait here with you? Just in case, you know. Or—I’m probably not allowed to drive him home, huh?”

“That would cross the line.”

“I figured that much. I’m just saying, maybe it would be better if I stay here with you two.”

“If you really want to,” Cas said, waving at Linda Tran coming in with an exhausted look on her face, “you are free to stay, you know that, but it’s fine. It’s manageable now. All we will do is wait a bit longer and call his parents if they don’t turn up soon.”

“You sure? I’m serious, if I can do something to help—”

“You can’t,” Castiel assured him, the hint of a smile on his face. “But thank you.”

“I could tell Missouri that she should make the call already.”

“No, not yet. I’ll give them a little more time,” Cas said with a sigh.

“All right,” Dean said flatly and let out a breath as he stepped back. “So, I guess, I’ll see you around. If I get to drop Ben here again. Or pick him up.”

“I hope so,” Cas said, barely able to bring himself to a smile as big tears began to roll over Max’s cheeks, and Cas tried to calm him.

Dean swallowed, nodding again. “Okay. Maybe we’ll see each other on Monday. ‘Cause you know, you can’t get rid of me that easy.” He let out a nervous laugh, his smile fading quickly. “Anyway, see you around.”

“You too,” Cas said hurriedly and shot him another weak smile, holding Max closer to comfort him.

“And I hope Charlie turns back up.”

“Thanks,” Cas said, turning around to Max and crouched down, wiping the tears from his face.

“Okay, bye,” Dean mumbled, turned on his heels and headed down the deserted hallway, hands deep in his pockets and head hanging low. Missouri and Victor shot him a long look when he passed their office. When he was about to step out of the room he past someone—a balding, slim man, who quickly strode past him with an annoyed look on his face, almost running into Dean, who jumped out of the way. Dean stared after him with a doubtful look, then shook his head before stepping out, into the cold air of the night.

Inside, Cas held a hand on Max’ shoulder, running a thumb over it, while he tried to get the boy interested in an activity. He shot up at JIm, a bald man, entering.

“Dad!” Max called and hurried over, quickly searching the space behind him, clinging to his leg with one, small hand.

“You’re late,” Cas spat.

“I was busy.”

“This isn’t the first time you’ve shown this behavior. You should take better care of your son,” Cas growled. His eyes fixed on him, he stepped closer until only inches were left between them.

“Parents get busy, all right?” He let out a long sigh. “Mind your own business. This behavior could get you fired.”

“You want me to get fired? I’d like to see how.”

“Oh, you think your bosses like you?”

“I know what they are willing to tolerate. And neglectful parents aren’t one of those things.”

“Now what? You want to punish me? For having a job?”

He pressed his lips tightly together.

Jim huffed. “Unbelievable,” he mumbled and shook his head. “Come on Max, we gotta go.” The boy rushed over and was ushered out by his father. Cas stayed left behind in the deserted room and let out a long breath.

* * *

Cas knocked the door gently. He stared down at the handle until the reply came from inside, and he slid in on quiet steps. “Hey.” A smile spread on his face at the sight of the bright, red hair, despite the sour hospital smell stinging in his nose.

“Cas!” Charlie beamed, sitting up. “What are you doing here?”

“I wanted to see how you are doing.” He stopped in front of her with an awkward smile lingering on his face. He fidgeted for a moment before holding out a small bouquet of flowers. “Here.”

“Thank you.” She pressed the flowers to herself, her smile shining bright. “That’s so sweet.”

Blushing slightly, he weighed his head and shuffled across the room to pull a chair up. He slipped out of the strap of his satchel bag and dropped down. “So, how are you feeling?”

“It’s all right. My arm hurts like hell, and my hip feels like I’m eighty. I’m pretty sure my butt is black and blue, but they got me covered. It’s bearable. How about you?”

“I’m fine.”

“Are the kids getting you down yet?”

“They try.” She huffed, as Cas nodded slowly. “No, they are sweet. And I have a good help.”

“Oh, did someone switch over?”

A second long he hesitated, mouth open and breath held. “No,” he admitted. “But someone stayed.”

“Someone?”

“He is—He isn’t exactly a parent. Do you know Dean? Lisa’s—Well, Dean.”

“Ohh, yeah I remember him.”

“You met him?”

“No,” she said hurriedly. “I mean from what Lisa said.”

“Oh, of course. Well, he came to drop off Ben, and, I suppose I looked pathetic enough for him to have pity on me and stay to help.”

“I hope he’s nice to you—and the kids.”

“He’s great,” he assured her with a warm smile. “So far, at least. He can handle the children, and they love him.”

“Oh yeah, new guy must be amazing for them.”

“Exactly. They haven’t figured him out yet, but he plays with them and listens to them.”

“Every child’s dream.” Charlie smiled and put the flowers down.

“Oh, and I got you something else.”

“What’s that?” she gasped in excitement. “Comics?”

“No.” he frowned and reached into the satchel, pulling out a stack of colorful papers. “The kids heard you weren’t feeling well, so they decided they need to cheer you up. Well, Lenore decided. She insisted I make that clear. And then all wanted to do it—especially after Dean pointed out that it will help you get back on your legs much faster.”

“Oh, that is so sweet,” she sighed, voice high pitched, and flipped through the pictures. “They are so bad at drawing, but they try.”

“They mean well.”

“I know.”

“And they love you.”

“Oh yeah they do. Look at all the hearts Ash added.” She turned the picture around for him to see. “And Kevin too. They are sweet. Annoying. So, so annoying and exhausting, but really sweet.”

He huffed, smirking at his knees. “It kind of makes up for it, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah, kind of,” she said slowly. “But there’s worse than getting a few days off.”

“You could have died!”

“I’m not saying I would die to get time away.”

“Just massively injured?”

“No. But hey, if I have someone bring me all my stuff to the bed and a ton of painkillers instead of wiping up poop and getting vomit in my hair, I can take a bruised butt. Though it cost me a date.”

“Charlie—“

“I’m kidding! Kind of. But don’t tell me you wouldn’t mind a few days off.”

“I wouldn’t mind maybe, but not at that cost.”

“All right, all right, I’m the evil guy, is that right?”

“No, that’s not—”

“Cas.” Charlie smiled, reaching out to him with her uninjured arm. “You always fall for every joke.”

Castiel closed his lips tightly and exhaled a long breath.

“I’m sorry,” she giggled.

“It’s my own fault.”

“I hope I don’t miss the day when the kids figure out how to play you that easy.”

“Yeah, look forward to it, because from that day on you are on your own. I will at best be able to serve as janitor.”

“You got other qualities.”

“Thanks.”

She grinned again, and patted his knee. “You’re really doing fine alone?”

“Dean and I can deal. I admit, he is better with certain aspects—”

“Oh I can imagine. I’ve seen you.”

He cleared his throat, his lips tightening briefly. “But I think we balance each other out pretty well.”

A moment long Charlie grinned at him. “Sounds like my accident is about the best thing that ever happened to you.”

“It’s not the best thing that happened to me. It’s just the best substitute there could be for you.”


	3. Chapter 3

Dean stood helplessly in the parking lot, tilting his head back and forth in search of someone else. The lot was completely empty—he was too early. He gave up and slipped into the hallway, but it was just as deserted as the parking lot.  Even the office of Missouri and Victor was empty. Carefully, he treaded on until he reached the door to Ben’s classroom, still locked.

“Well,” Dean mumbled, tilting his head down to the child in his arms, “now I get why Lisa was so pissed about me getting you so early. Sorry, not pissed, I—I need to stop using those words around you.” He shook his head at himself and turned around, staring back down the hall, just in time to see Castiel step out of a room in the far back, a cup in his hand. Castiel stared down the hall with small, tired eyes, and began to make his way over. Before he was halfway down the hall, another classroom’s door jumped open, and Jody stepped out, stopping him. A moment long they stood, talking, interrupted by occasional laughs.

“She can’t wait to come over,” Dean heard her say. “She’s been talking about nothing else, the whole day.”

Returning a smile, Castiel slowly stepped forwards, trying to ease himself away from her, until she waved and walked down the hallway the direction Cas had come from, letting him make his way toward Dean.

“Hey,” Cas greeted with a warm smile that punched the air out of Dean’s lungs for a second in which he could only stare back, his own smile fluttering. “You’re early,” Cas pointed out, his smile replaced with a frown as he went through his keys. “If I had known you’re already here, I would have made you some coffee too. Actually, I suppose I could have thought of it anyway,” he admitted, “but I wasn’t sure if you’d come.”

“It’s fine,” Dean laughed, waving off. “I’ve had my dose.” He stepped back, watching Cas unlock the door, and followed him into the empty room. “This is kind of eerie.”

“You think?”

“A bit,” he admitted, and followed Cas through the room, noticing him put his coffee down on the table. “Wow, two whole sips of coffee?” he asked with a scoff.

“I know. Ambitious, right?”

Dean blinked once. “Very,” he said and nodded, before tilting his head to look at Ben again. “Let’s get you set up, Benny-boy.” Behind him, Cas spun around, his nose scrunching up at the name, before turning back to set up the room without Dean noticing. Dean carefully put both Ben and the bag with his things down. “Hey, is—“ he then began, calling over his shoulder as he looked around, “is Charlie coming back today?”

“No,” Cas said with a sigh. “Still not. But the good news is… Not actually all that good news, now that I think about it. But some of the kids got sick over the weekend, so things should be somewhat calmer today.”

“Told you that Anna girl shouldn’t have come into work.”

“I keep telling you, she was not sick!”

“You sure about that?”

“Yes, Dean, I’m sure.”

“All right, fine,” Dean gave in and pushed himself back up, pulling Ben into his arms. “They don’t have anything too bad, right?”

“Probably just a little cold going around.”

“Well, hope they get better—and that Ben doesn’t catch it.”

“I’m sure he will be fine,” Cas assured him and shot Ben a smile.

“He better,” Dean mumbled and wiped drool out of the corner of Ben’s mouth. “You know how many are sick today?”

“Not sure,” he said, frowning. “A few parents called to let us know, but we will see.”

“Oh, okay. So… what if only five kids come in?”

“Then we’ll have to entertain only five kids.”

His eyes big and mouth open, Dean nodded slowly. “Okay,” he said, not able to help the grin curling his lips, “then we will do that.”

For a moment Cas stood, brows tightly furrowed and eyes narrowing at Dean in a confused expression before shaking his head slightly. He was just about to return to his job when a knock came from the door and the first parent entered. She quickly helped Alan out of his jacket, whispered a few words to him as she ran a hand over his head, and kissed him goodbye before ushering him into the room. He instantly beamed at Dean and Cas, squealing a little hi at both, before wiggling over to some blocks in the corner, while his mother took the chance to talk to Cas for a moment.

“Man,” Dean mumbled to Ben, “I didn’t know it was this boring to be here early.”

“Don’t worry,” Castiel said firmly, turning around to him as Alan’s mother left again, “it’s not going to stay this calm long. You know how it gets. They’ll run us down in no time.”

“Awesome,” Dean said, and carefully put Ben down before joining Cas while Ben stared after him with big eyes and his mouth open. “Anything else I can help you out with?”

“Just the usual,” Castiel said with a quick shake of his head. “Maybe welcome some kids if I’m busy and they seem lost.”

“So same as always.”

“That’s what I said, yes.”

“Okay,” Dean said, rolling his eyes. The next parents arrived with their kids, who couldn’t wait to storm into the room while their parents said their hellos, briskly chatting with Cas and each other, quiet giggles being exchanged between the parents and him.

After a short stretch of silence, in which Dean observed the kids to make sure they didn’t hurt themselves while Cas remained by the door, a young woman with dark, long hair entered the room, her little son dragging himself along on her hand. There were  dark rings under her eyes, and the little boy’s head was hanging, his blonde hair drooping into his face. “Hey, Lucas,” Castiel welcomed them, friendly smile falling at their expressions.

“Morning,” the mother said with a weak smile. She held a breath and ushered Lucas into the room before turning back to Castiel. Quietly, she rattled down a few words that Dean couldn’t make out and swallowed, pressing a hand to her lips as she drew another, deep breath.

“I’m sorry,” he could hear Cas say as he placed a hand on her shoulder, a pained expression on his face. She nodded hurriedly, giving him a shaking smile, before stepping back and saying her goodbyes again. Castiel bid her farewell and stood for a moment, watching after her. Slowly, Dean came over, glancing back and forth, not quite certain if he was out of place.

“Something wrong?” he asked quietly, and Cas snapped around.

“No,” he said quickly, then shook his head. “Her, um, Andrea’s husband died a few days ago.”

“Wow,” Dean said, blinking once and turned around to Lucas, sitting down on the stairs of the playhouse and pulled a hand full of plastic soldiers out of his pocket, beginning to play by himself. “And she already shoves him back in here?”

“Well, he stayed at home for a while,” Castiel admitted. “But that doesn’t seem to do him any good either, all things considered. We are hoping that some contact takes his mind off things.”

“Yeah, I can get that. Can’t be easy to stay at home with his dad missing all the time either.”

“Evidently. He hasn’t said a word since it happened.”

Dean scoffed weakly. “I can imagine he doesn’t feel like telling stories right now.” He thought for a second, then shrugged. “Maybe being around others helps him.”

“Yeah, or it makes everything worse,” Dean pointed out. “I mean, like I said, he probably doesn’t feel like telling stories and jokes, or playing chase right now. Seeing others trying to drag him into it and laughing could make it worse.”

“Maybe,” Cas agreed with a sigh. He ran a hand through his hair until it stood out into all directions. “We’re hoping it helps, but if not, we can always call Andrea to pick him back up.”

“Let’s hope for the best then, huh?” Dean asked as Cas turned away to take Jo from the arriving Ellen. Dean’s gaze wandered back over to Lucas, playing alone in the corner and making quiet noises for his soldiers. Before he could ponder for too long, however, several more children and parents streamed in, making no attempt to remain quiet. Dean hurried over to take the smaller children and accompanying items from their parents and said quick hellos, finding himself in a sort of torch relay with Cas in welcoming the kids who didn’t already run into the room on their own to find their usual places. After a few minutes, it quieted down again. Each child present found a place, and the parents quickly left again, leaving Dean and Cas staring in the front of the room, hands against their hips and gazes trailing across the room. “That’s all?” Dean asked after a moment, finding the room strangely empty and quiet compared to the previous days.

“Could be. I doubt we are going to get many more, considering how many already said they wouldn’t be able to come in today.”

“That really looks like it’s going to be easy.”

“Easier,” Cas corrected. “Believe me, it’s never easy.” He shook his head with wide eyes, and Dean huffed, quickly turning back towards the children as a grin curled his lips.

“Fine, easier. But really, how much work can they be?”

“Don’t challenge them.”

“No, I wasn’t—” he began, and laughed again despite himself. “You know what, you’re probably right. They are going to find ways to challenge us.”

“You can bet on it.”

“Hey, are other kids sick too?”

“You mean the ones who are here?” he asked, brows furrowing in confusion.

“No! No, of course n—please tell me they aren’t.”

“Of course not. I mean, they could be, parents could hide anything from us, and some do try, but I’m confident that I would have noticed.”

“Okay, good,” Dean said, exhaling a breath. “I meant the other groups, actually.”

“Oh, I think some could be missing there too, maybe.” Dean opened his mouth and closed it again, nodding once. “Why do you ask?”

His brows shooting up, Dean swirled around to Cas. “Hm? Oh, I just… I was just curious what happens to the groups when everyone is sick.”

A moment long Cas watched him, brows still tightly furrowed. “All right,” he said, still not seeming convinced, and Dean slowly shuffled back, eyes fixed on the ground, cheeks turning pink.

“So,” Dean added slowly, trying to change the topic, “what are we going to do with the kids today?”

“I don’t know,” Cas admitted, briefly letting himself fall back against the table in the front. “I’ve been thinking of a few things, but we will see how they feel, if others come in, and how the weather plays along… It’s the same as usual, to be honest.”

“You’re saying we improvise?”

“Slightly.”

“Fine by me,” Dean gave in. “You’re the boss, boss.”

“I’m not—” Cas protested weakly, staring at Dean, then gave up again and instead joined two children in the corner who were fighting over one of the toys. Dean welcomed one last child trotting in, carried in by a breathless father, who had a thin film of sweat on his forehead. The father whispered quick apologies for being late before handing his kid over to Dean who assured him it was no problem before the father rushed off again, and Dean brought the little one over to the others to play.

For a moment he joined in, staying close to the door as he helped kids with their attempts to build something and played along with them. He had several minutes with them, almost forgetting the door, when a knock jerked him up again. He spun around, climbing back to his legs while the door opened and Victor stepped in, stopping to stare down at him.

“You again,” he said with a slow nod, lips pursed, and Dean froze, staring at him with a feeling of having been caught in the act.

“I—I was just dropping Ben off,” he said, gesturing over his shoulder. “Another dad only just left.”

“Whatever you say,” Victor said and rolled his eyes. “Can I talk to Cas?”

“Sure,” Dean said hastily and took a step back before stopping again. “Not about me, right? ‘Cause I don’t want him to get into trouble because of me or anything, you know?”

Victor held his look on him. “Just get him,” he muttered, nose scrunching up for a second.

“All right,” Dean gave in, his head dropping as he crossed the room towards Cas and gave him a nudge. For a second Castiel looked up at him with a slightly confused expression before Dean pointed him into Victor’s direction. Castiel got up with a concerned look on his face, excusing himself from the children before he walked over.

“Is something wrong?”

Victor shot another look over his shoulder at Dean, sitting where Cas had before and picking up Ben. “You sure you wanna keep him here?”

“Victor, I told you I can’t manage this on my own, and Dean’s got this. Please.”

“All right, whatever you say,” Victor gave in with a sigh and threw his hands up. “Looks like you got Missouri on your side already anyway, so I can’t win. I actually came to give you this,” he explained and handed Cas a folded page.”

“What’s that?” he asked, only slowly taking it, eyes fixed on his boss.

“From Bela.”

“Oh,” Castiel said, a relieved sigh escaping him as he unfolded the message and read it hurriedly. “That was quick.”

“You know she doesn’t mess around,” Victor said, the hint of proud grin tugging on his lips. “At least we know now.”

“I suppose so,” Castiel sighed.

“Hey, you had a good eye for it,” Victor said and clasped Castiel’s shoulder. “It’s a good thing you told us.”

“I’m just worried about Max.”

“Understandable. But he’s being taken care of and in the long term, it’s the best thing you could do. You’re just not going to see him in a while. Or maybe never again.”

“Yeah,” Cas mumbled and scratched his forehead. “Probably for the best.”

“What? You don’t wanna see him again?”

“Of course I do,” Castiel snapped, almost offended. “I just doubt he would. I just set everything into motion for him to be taken from his family—they are getting investigated—he must hate me.”

“You got him out of a situation that hurt him.”

“And into a situation where he doesn’t have anyone.”

“If it means so much to you, adopt him,” Victor said with a weary smile. “Or get him to do it,” he added with a nod at Dean. “Then he’s got something better to do than hang around here all day.”

“He already does. He only stays because he knows I need help.”

“Charlie’s back soon, Cas, you got this.”

“I don’t got this,” he mumbled.

“Be a bit more confident. You’ve done great so far.”

“Because Dean was there.”

“That’s not what I mean. We’ve seen you deal with the kids. You can handle it,” Victor assured him, more softly this time, putting a hand on his shoulder and leaning closer just as Dean turned to shoot them a look, the laughter on his face fading instantly.

“Fine, whatever you say,” Castiel sighed, and neatly folded the message from Bela again. “Here.”

“What, you don’t wanna keep it?”

“I can pick it up later again, but… not here.”

“Cas,” Victor said carefully and built himself back up, staring at the ceiling as his hands slipped into his pockets, “how many of your kids can read?”

“None,” Castiel said, shaking his head. For a second he only stared at Victor, then rolled his eyes. “I just don’t want it to get into the wrong hands. They could show it to their parents or leave it somewhere, or Dean could see it.”

“Fine,” Victor sighed, snapping the paper from his hands and stuffing it into his pocket, not without shaking his head at Cas. “You’re one funny guy, you know that?”

“So people tell me,” Castiel nodded, lips tight. He let his eyes wander across the room until he spotted Ed and Zedd, quickly followed by some other children, try to climb onto another kid. His expression darkened visibly. “I should—” he mumbled, pointing at them.

“Oh yeah,” Victor agreed, spotting them as well, and patted him on the back. “I should too. We’ll see later.”

“Yeah,” Cas agreed breathlessly and hurried over to the children piling up on the other, and quickly pulled them apart, hushing repeated “no”s, but finding himself not having enough hands, as they continued to laugh and tried to find a way around him. Just when he considered giving up entirely, another pair of hands shot forward and helped lifting them away. “That could have come a bit earlier,” Cas snapped as they both firmly put the kids on the ground, shooting them a look that said everything.

“Oh, sorry,” Dean said sarcastically, “I was a bit busy trying to stop that—what’s his name—Ash from eating Lenore’s socks!”

“Why was he—” Cas began, stopping to shoot Dean a look of utter confusion, then shook his head in resignation and bent down to pick up Alan, cowering on the floor with his hands over his face. “Everything all right?” he asked quietly. Alan swallowed once, then slowly nodded. “Come here,” Cas whispered, pulling his hands off his face and greeting him with a smile.

“All limbs still together?” Dean asked, lifting Alan’s arm and tilting his head to inspect him. “Yeah, looks like it.”

“Seems like we’re in luck today, huh?” Cas agreed, his grin getting brighter, and Alan shyly returned a weak smile. “You really okay?”

“Yeah,” he said quietly.

“All right, good.” Castiel put Alan back down on his feet. “And if they do that again, we’ll call their parents.”

Slowly, Alan nodded, lips pressed together, and wiped over his eyes once.

“Come on, you’re a tough kid,” Dean said with a smile and ruffled his hair. “Right?” Alan’s eyes slowly trailed up to Dean, and he nodded. “That’s what I wanted to hear.” Dean grinned. “What do you say, you go back to playing, and don’t let them screw you over again, huh?”

“Okay,” he said quietly, let go of Cas, and trotted off into the playgroup.

Cas opened his mouth and turned, but before he could say anything, Dean already lifted a hand and waved it  off. “I know, I know,” Dean sighed. “I shouldn’t use those words in front of kids, I’m sorry.”

“It’s all right,” Cas dismissed quickly. “I just wanted to ask if you could help setting up the breakfast table.”

His brows shooting up, Dean blinked once. “Oh, yeah, of course. No problem.”

“Great, thank you,” Castiel said with a relieved sigh, and quickly walked around Dean to get the children to set their toys down and help getting the table set up. Dean wheeled the cart, rattling with cups and plates, over to the table.

Once breakfast was eaten, and Dean had read the group another story to get them to nap, Dean and Cas returned to their usual space in the corner, where Cas found his coffee cup, still untouched, and the coffee long since having gone cold. He let out a long, frustrated sigh, and forced down the chug of cold, stale coffee, shuddering at the taste. “I’ll get a new one,” he whispered. “You want one?”

“Sure,” Dean shrugged, a faint smile on his lips, and Cas quickly left for the coffee, promising to be back quickly.

Once Cas came back, he dropped himself into a chair next to Dean’s. They spent nap time mostly in comfortable silence, sipping their coffee and watching the near silent room, only occasionally exchanging a few quiet words.

Dean sighed and got back up to his feet. Towering over the children, he put his hands on his hips and watched crayons scratch over pearly white paper. His gaze fell back onto Cas, desperately trying to keep Andy and Anseem apart. Dean furrowed his brow and stepped closer.

“You know the rules. If you have a problem, you call one of the adults. That’s why Dean, or usually Charlie, and I are here.”

“Only babies get help!” Anseem snapped. “I’m not a baby.”

“Not only babies get help.” Castiel rolled his eyes. “And even if, you are young enough to get away with it.”

“No, I’m not a baby.”

Cas drew a deep breath. “Look,” he said, shuffling closer, “sometimes people need help. I had to ask Dean for help when Charlie got sick. Charlie had to ask people for help before. There is nothing wrong with that and it does not make you a baby.”

“You’re still a baby,” Andy laughed.

“See?”

“Let him talk,” Cas sighed, waving off.

“I don’t know,” Dean threw in with a shrug and crouched down. “I get what he means.”

“Dean.”

“I’m just saying! You think when you ask for help, others are going to make even more fun of you, right?”

“Yeah.” Anseem pouted, staring at Dean with wide eyes.

“Well, that won’t happen,” Cas promised. “You can ask us, we will help, and if someone tries to give you even more trouble for that, we will help with that, too. Okay?” Anseem squirmed, eyes fixed on Cas. “I promise, it doesn’t make you a baby.”

His little shoulders dropped, and he frowned at his feet.

“No more hitting each other, no more pulling hair, no more trying to make each other angry, do you understand?”

“But—”

“No.” Cas held a hand up, his look stern. “If you two don’t get along, one of you has to go into another group.”

“No!” both shouted at once and jumped up.

“Then you need to behave. No more hitting each other. No more taking things away from each other. No more arguing. If you are unhappy, come to us and ask. Nicely.”

“Okay.” Their heads hung low.

“Good.” Cas let out a sigh and climbed back up to his feet. Shooting them one more look, he removed himself, and Dean followed quickly. Staying close behind Cas, Dean shot a look back at the twins, brows arched.

“I don’t know, Cas,” Dean mumbled. He shook his head, brows low. “Aren’t you… babying them?”

A deep frown sitting on his face, Cas turned around to Dean. “They are babies.”

“They are toddlers.”

Cas rolled his eyes, drawing a deep breath.

“All I’m saying is—Shouldn’t they get more independent now? I’m all for them not smashing each others’ heads in, but ‘no more arguing’?”

“We can’t have our kids scream at each other all the time, Dean.”

“No, I get that but aren’t you wussing them up?”

“I’m sorry?” Castiel stopped, turning to Dean with wide eyes and his brows tightly furrowed.

“The kid wanted to stand up for himself and not have an adult do it for him. He wanted to learn to handle things himself, that’s a good thing, right? That’s what I’d want for Ben.”

“Then you are free to raise him like that.” He turned on his heels and continued, praising works in passing.

“I’m serious, Cas, are these kids ever going to be able to handle things on their own if we always do it for them?”

“They are toddlers, Dean.”

“I know that—”

“We don’t actually keep solving their conflicts for them until they are ready for college.”

“No, I get that.”

“Do you have a better idea to keep things from escalating?”

“I—Well, no.”

“Then do me a favor and keep your opinions to yourself.” Cas turned and stomped off, crossing the room with a few, quick steps.

Dean blinked once in surprise. “Wow.” A second long he froze, watching Cas. He set after him. “Did you sleep badly or something?”

“I know what I’m doing, Dean,” Cas said through clenched teeth. “We all have been trained for this, we have a reason for the things we do here. They still have enough chances to learn how to solve conflict over the next ten years. At this stage, they are very prone to becoming physically violent. They benefit more from seeing us solve it, and learning not to start a fight.”

They were interrupted when Gordon ran up to them. He waved his picture at Cas, who instantly crouched down and took the image. “Wow,” he said, beaming. “Is that your house? That is amazing. You even gave it depth.”

Gordon turned to him, mouth open in confusion.

“You made it three dimensional,” Cas corrected slowly.

“Three D?”

“Yes.”

A beaming smile spread on Gordon’s face. Cas couldn’t help but smile back, and patted him on the back. “Maybe you can add some flowers. Or birds.”

Clutching his picture, Gordon ran back to his seat and reached for the crayons.

Cas got back to his legs, exhaling. To Dean, he said, “Don’t you think it’s better if they know how to avoid making each other angry and get along instead of only knowing how to settle the conflict?”

“Yeah, I guess,” Dean admitted, head dropping. “But shouldn’t they know both? At some point they’ll meet someone who takes all their stuff or hits them. You know the kind.”

“I do.” Cas nodded with wide eyes. “But these kids will never be that kind of person. They will know to treat others with respect—at least I hope so. Maybe they will have learned something from us and know how to solve it as peacefully as possible. Or they will learn it in the coming years. Even if they do get help from someone more suited, what’s so bad about that? I would help you if someone attacked you or tried to rob you.”

“Yeah, and I would help you, too. I’d jump right in, but…”

“But what? Why is a fourteen-year-old beating up a twelve-year-old so different from a thirty-year-old robbing another?”

“I—Well, because they are children. And because I can’t rely on you being there to save me if I get robbed! I have to know how to defend myself,” Dean argued.

“Fine. The children need to learn how to solve a conflict.”

“And not get beaten up for running to Mom and Dad or the teachers all the time.”

“But knowing how to not let things escalate to the point of a real conflict is preferable.”

“And you think that works?”

“If you have a problem with that you are free to leave any time,” Cas snapped, pushing closer to Dean. Their faces only inches apart, Dean’s eyes darted over Castiel’s face. His lips trembled, parting slightly.

“All right,” Dean said, trying to keep his voice steady. His eyes continued to scan his face. “Fine, you do you.”

“Was that really so hard?” Cas snapped back around. Dean sank into himself as soon as Cas’ eyes were off him.

“Jeez,” Dean mumbled with a cautious look at Cas, and pressed a hand to his chest. “You seem so nice and harmless.”

“You think I could control these kids for five seconds if I didn’t have some authority?”

“Fair enough. But that. That isn’t authority, that is downright scary.”

“Apologies.” Cas stepped back, frowning. “If you could, help clean up?”

“Sure thing.”

“Okay, kids,” Cas called out. “Are you all done?”

Two shocked ‘no’s mixed with the flood of ‘yes’s.

“Okay, you two finish up, quick. We’re packing up.”

“Come here.” Dean smiled, shoving crayons into the box. “You got any more lying around there?”

One by one the kids threw the crayons into the box. A few attempted to throw from the other side of the table and hit Dean instead whenever he didn’t manage to duck quickly enough. 

He shot them looks, his brows high and a finger pointed. The children giggled in return or buried their heads in their elbows.

After another few, brief arguments over crayons, the last two finished their pictures, and cheerily presented them to Dean when he came to take their remaining colours. He stopped briefly to compliment their pictures before he continued to shove crayons into the box and moved on.

With an exhausted huff he lifted the box back up into the shelf. He could hear Cas clap his hands and beginning to talk. As he raised the box higher he could feel his shirt slip up, cold air creeping up his back. Behind him, Cas went quiet for a second, but continued before Dean could put the box down and turn around.

“If you want, and if you all behave, we can go to the gym.”

Excited screams shrilled through the room, making both men jerk together.

“Shh!” Cas put a finger to his lips and raised a hand until the crowd quieted, leaving only Ben quacking and squirming. Krissy turned to him, shushing him to no avail, before Dean picked him up.

Castiel’s watchful eyes wandered over the crowd until everyone repeated his motion and was perfectly silent. “You have to be very quiet on the way so we don’t disturb the other groups.”

Biting their lips with excitement, a few children nodded at him.

“Good. Everyone take a partner. Quiet.”

The kids shot up and shuffled through the room in search for a partner. Cas walked around them slowly, stopping them from getting too loud and from fighting until he reached Jo and picked her up. “You ready to come?” he asked, turning to Dean.

“Sure. We take these two along?”

“Always.”

“Fine by me. But, uh, you lead.”

“I know.” Castiel raised his brows at him, head tilted. “You just need to follow and make sure they all keep moving and don’t get lost along the way.”

“How far away is that gym?” His voice pitched high and his eyes widened in horror.

“Not far. But they’re fast, Dean. Blink and they are gone, hiding in some corner.”

“That ever happened to you?” Dean huffed.

“Once.”

“Seriously?” Dean’s expression fell and he held Ben a bit closer.

“I was new. The group was big because of some fallouts…” Dean exhaled a breath, his nostrils flared. “Two kids got into an argument in the back and another just stopped moving altogether. While I was trying to get them back in line one must have ran off. We found him. When we got into the room the other teacher counted them, noticed he was gone and I went back to get him. I found him under the stairs, slightly stuck, but he got back to the group in a few minutes and completely unharmed.” He watched Dean’s reaction for a moment. “I probably shouldn’t have told you that. The point is that it can happen easily.”

“And think I can handle that?” Dean laughed a little nervously.

“Sure. You just need an open eye.”

“An open eye and twenty hands.”

“If you think that’s enough.”

A moment long Dean’s eyes lingered on him, brows half-raised, before he laughed quietly.

“Come on, guys. Hurry up,” Cas called and headed for the door.

The children shuffled together and lined up behind him, taking each other’s hands.

“Everybody got a partner?”

“Yes!” they all called back, heads held high, as Cas quickly counted through them.

“All right, then let’s go.” Shooting Dean one more look, Castiel opened the door and led the group out. He turned back once they’d made it farther down the hallway, just in time to see Dean slip out of the classroom and close the door. He was trying to keep an eye on the group ahead of him while Ben squirmed in his arms. . “Come on, don’t slow down.”

He turned the corner and hurried up the stairs, regularly throwing glances back at the group behind him. Balancing Jo on his arm, he unlocked the gym and stepped aside, making room for the kids to stream in, making no attempt, to stay quiet once they got inside. Instead, they stormed forwards to the various play items.

“Hey, hey, hey! Not so quick.” Castiel pointed to the centre of the room with a stern look. The group gathered slowly in the middle and formed a circle. Occasionally pushing each other, they sat down. Some jumped back up to find a better seat, but slowly they settled down and went quiet. Dean followed Cas to the circle, looking uncertain.

“Can you stay calm while we prepare everything?”

Again the children nodded, lips tight and big eyes fixed on Castiel.

“Good. Now, you know the rules?”

A few hands shot up.

“No hitting,” Lenore said when he picked her.

“No taking anything away,” Kevin added.

“Good,” Cas said patiently. “Then we can go—quietly—and take the equipment.”

The children climbed back to their feet, rushing for the equipment on the walls, laughing in excitement.

Cas nodded Dean over into a corner and carefully placed Jo on the ground. As he adjusted her, he shot another glance up, inspecting the children as they picked out the equipment, arguing quietly. “Jesse,” Cas called over. “Just take another hoop.”

Jesse shot Cas a glare and let go of the one Tamara was holding, leaving her to happily run off.

By his side, Dean watched the children for another moment before sitting down by his side. “So, what’s the plan for these two rockstars? Marathon training? Lifting weights?”

“Close. They could need a little movement, too. Some strengthening their neck muscles, sitting training…”

“Oh, then you better watch out, because Ben is gonna run like the devil in no time.”

Cas looked at him with a small crease between brows for a short moment, then turned back to Jo and ran a hand over her back. She wiggled her legs against the ground, her head swaying.

“Okay Ben.” Dean held him up, looking into his eyes with raised brows. “This is important. You need to be stronger than that kid.”

“Dean, this is not a competition.”

“Yeah, sounds like something a loser would say.”

Cas opened his mouth, appalled. Dean grinned back and winked at him. Laughing quietly, he turned Ben in his arms. “Come on, let’s get those guns out.”

As he placed Ben on the ground, Ash came running back over.

“What’s wrong?” Cas asked immediately, looking concerned.

“Nothing. Can I play with Jo?”

“Well, we want her to train her neck a little.”

“I wanna help! I’ll be careful.”

“Sure,” Cas gave in.

Beaming, Ash dropped himself on all fours, trying to get on eye level with Jo. She focussed on him slowly and raised her head. A delighted smile came to her face, followed by a laugh.

“Oh, that’s easy for Ben. Right, buddy?”

“Of course it’s easier for him. He’s older.”

“But not much.”

“You have no idea how much difference one month can make, do you?”

Dean shrugged. “Now that I think about it… he did grow a lot in a month.” He leaned down to Ben. “If you don’t watch out you’ll be bigger than me in no time. Don’t do that.”

Ash crawled back, waving his hand at Jo, trying to get her to follow.

“You can play really nice with her,” Dean noted with a smile, and Ash beamed back.

“But you should move a little, too.”

“Later.”

“You can still play with Jo later. Don’t you want to join Andy, Maddy and Alan? They got the skipping rope.”

Ash sat up, kneeling on the ground, and watched them for a moment. “Okay.” He stumbled over to them and blurred into the crowd. He left a comfortable silence between Dean and Cas as they tried to motivate the babies to move, interrupted with brief tickles.

“You know,” Dean said quietly, his eyes wandering over the kids, “this is honestly great. I mean, not that it wasn’t so far, but I like this.” Dean huffed and turned towards Cas, who only watched him with a warm look, not saying a word. “Almost makes you want to have kids, huh?”

Cas tilted his head slightly. Dean’s smile froze. “I mean, not you, maybe,” he added hurriedly. “Not that you wouldn’t want kids, but with everything you got from these kids, all those used diapers and vomit and crying and moody days, I could imagine that you’re pretty much done with wanting kids outside of your job, and only tolerate them for money.”

Slowly, Castiel’s brows went closer together, a bit more with each word. “Dean,” he said firmly. “I told you, I wouldn’t have taken this job if I didn’t like children.”

“Right.” Dean blinked numbly. “So… you’d still want kids?”

Castiel’s eyes widened briefly and his lips thinned as he turned away. “If I could handle it. For half a day, sure, I’m fine, but every minute of the week?”

“Yeah, but you’d probably only have one kid at first, maybe two if you get twins, but not as many as here.”

“Still. It would only work with someone I work together with. Like—“ his mouth stood open for a second. He closed it again, exhaling. “Someone I make a good team with.”

“Isn’t that always kind of the requirement for a good relationship and being parents? Or should be, at least.”

“Well, yes,” Cas admitted with a weak nod. “I just haven’t exactly found many people like that so far.”

“Yeah,” Dean said softly. Slowly, his expression darkened. His shoulders sank down and his eyes became dull. “Me neither.”

A moment long silence stretched between them. “Perhaps, we will make a connection like that,” Cas said carefully. “Maybe it needs work to achieve it. And if I never find it again, I still have more than enough children.” He nodded at his group with a faint smile.

His brows raised, Dean blinked once. “If you’re going to tell me that all these children are secretly yours—”

“What? No.”

“Half of them?”

Cas stared at Dean with an appalled expression, until Dean broke out into laughter. He shook his head, drawing a deep breath. “I’m kidding, Cas.”

“All I meant is that, I spent a lot of time raising a lot of children already. If I can’t have my own, that is fine.”

“I know,” Dean said softly and nodded. “But that’s the good thing about this job, isn’t it? One regret less. Even if you go out never having had kids of your own, you still, you know, left your mark on the world. You still had some impact on the next generation, still shaped how it’s all going to turn out, one day. At least a little.”

For a moment Castiel looked at him with an expression Dean couldn’t read. Then, slowly, a faint smile curled his lips. He nodded once, letting his gaze wander across the group again. “I guess you could say it like that.” Promptly, his expression fell again. “I can only hope I don’t have a too bad impact on them in that case.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t worry about that. At least from what I’ve seen, you’re doing great. They could have it a lot worse.”

“I just hope it’s a good impact I have.”

“It’s a great impact.”

“Dean, don’t joke about this.”

“I’m not joking!” Dean’s voice pitched slightly too high at the suggestion, but his expression softened quickly. “I’m serious. Maybe I’m just talking as someone who doesn’t actually have any kids himself, and maybe I’d make a crappy dad, but in my eyes, you’re doing great. I’d trust you with my kids.”

“Thank you. It would be my pleasure.”

“Don’t say that, I might really go through with it.”

“Good. I’m sure your children would be lovely.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t be so sure about that.”

“I am.” Cas nodded once, eyes glued to Dean without even blinking.

“All right,” Dean mumbled. He shifted in his seat, slightly away from Cas, a soft pink creeping up his cheeks as he scratched his head. To break the silence, he cleared his throat, but the silence instantly fell again. “You’re pretty confident for a dude who only met me a few days ago, you know that?”

“I’m sorry,” Cas said slowly, his expression becoming more puzzled. “To be honest, it felt longer than that, but, of course, you are right.” He nodded once and sat up straighter, wiping his hands on his thighs.

Dean watching him with raised brows for a second, before the realization coming to him. “No, no! It’s fine. I’m just saying, you don’t know everything about me.”

“No, that’s true. Though, you could change that.”

“What, you want me to tell you what kind of wreck I am?” He huffed.

“You’re not a wreck, Dean.”

“I kind of am,” he mumbled with a weak shrug. “I mean, for all you know, I could be a drug addict or killer.”

“I think I would know that.”

“Why? Not like I would have come in telling you that.”

“No, but I’d say I have a pretty good feeling for people. If you were like that, I would have noticed by now.” 

“Wow. So what, you can read everyone like a book?”

“Some people. Some, a bit less.”

“And I’m easy?”

“In a way,” Cas said, nodding.

“Great.”

“That’s not a bad thing, Dean. But if it helps, some aspects of you are almost impossible to understand for me.”

While Dean thought about that, weighing his head with the corners of his lips pulled down, Lenore came running back over. She grinned proudly and gave her hoop a push, holding it up for a few seconds.

“Wow,” Cas whispered, watching with a vibrant smile. “Well done! When did you learn that?”

“At home,” she beamed.

“That is amazing. I can’t do that.”

Giggling, she took her hoop and ran back to her friend, making her look.

“So,” Dean said slowly, “you really think you know me well enough to judge my unborn children?”

“Maybe. But I can read you.” Cas said with a smile. For another second he remained, looking at Dean. Then he gave Jo another rub over her back, and got up, leaving Dean silenced for a moment.

Cas crossed the room, calling for the children to clear the equipment away again, and was met by moans and whines. “We are not done yet,” he promised. “Just with these toys.”

Slowly, the kids shuffled away, clearing the room. Cas gave a hand to the ones struggling to hang their hoops back up, or roll up a rope.

“Dean?”

Surprised, Dean shot Ben a glance and got up. “What do you need?”

“You need to help me hold this.” Cas pulled out a brightly colored piece of fabric, folded several times. Dean watching it in confusion, then arched a brow at Cas.

“Come on,” was all Cas said as he guided Dean back to the centre.

A few excited gasps came from the group. Cas immediately pressed a finger to his mouth, a mischievous smile lingering on it. He unfolded the cloth once and made Dean grab one corner. “Try to get opposite me,” he instructed and set into motion, unfolding it further as the moved apart. More recognizing gasps came from the group as the fabric stretched over the group, revealing the colorful triangles forming a circle.

A laugh came from Cas at the response from the children, who began to shuffle around, shrieking and laughing under the moving play parachute.

As he lifted it again, Dean tilted his head to Lenore lying by his feet. “Hey,” he said, beaming. She giggled, hands pressed to her cheeks and rolled over to her side as the parachute lowered over her again, throwing a shade over her.

Over the low hanging parachute, Dean shot a look at Cas, unable to stop himself from grinning.


	4. Chapter 4

Dean hurried down the hallways of the day care, grinning already and excitedly whispering to Ben in his arms. He turned the corner into his class, immediately walking up to Cas, who was exchanging a few, quiet words with a redheaded woman wearing black-rimmed glasses. Castiel turned from her just when Dean stopped in front of them, beaming back at him.

“Hey,” Dean said breathlessly. Still smiling, he turned from Cas to the woman, who returned the smile, then looked back at Cas.

“Dean,” Cas said warmly. “This is Charlie.”

Dean’s brows shot up and the smile froze. His eyes wandered over to the redheaded woman. “Charlie! You—You are… You’re back.”

“Yeah. Hi.” She grinned at him and held up a hand, fingers spread out and pressed together with a gap between her middle and ring finger. Dean wondered if it was intentional.

“Oh you– you got the glasses,” Dean noted, his smile unconvincing, and weakly pointed at the thick rims. "Anna was saying you should get some."

“Yeah, I know. She called me and I figured why not.”

“Well, they suit you. Though, I don’t really know you look without them.”

“They do suit you,” Cas agreed.

“Thank god, because that was my biggest worry.”

Cas opened his mouth, drew a breath, then closed it again. He shook his head and turned back to Dean and Ben, breaking out into a smile again. “And how are you doing today?”

“I’m doing gr—You mean Ben,” Dean noted flatly when Cas took Ben from him and rocked him gently. “Good morning. Are you feeling good?”

Cas slowly walked away, carrying Ben with him, occasionally pulling other kids away from each other or asking them to quiet down, leaving Dean blushing and clearing his throat. Charlie bit down a grin while he squirmed under her gaze.

“So, you’re back for good, or just checking in?” he asked, gesturing at the sling around her arm.

“No, I’m back for good. Just not fully back in the saddle. But we’ll see what we can do and how it goes before we decide if we get help. Maybe someone else can pop in and help out. Or you can stay, if you want.”

“Me?” Dean blinked once and scoffed. “What makes you think of me?”

“You are Dean, right? The Dean? The one who helped Cas out.”

“Yeah, that’s me.” He nodded hurriedly. “I wasn’t sure if you know.”

“Cas tells me what’s going on.” Charlie put a hand on his arm, giving him an amused, but almost pitiful, look.

For a second Dean only stared back, blinking, his lips parted slightly. “All right,” he mumbled and nodded once. He cleared his throat again. Silence stretched between them as Cas put Ben down and got back up, stepping back over to them again.

“So, Dean. What is your plan for today?” Cas asked.

Slowly Dean opened his mouth, shooting Charlie glances. “Well, I… I didn’t know Charlie would be back today, so I planned to stay. It’s no problem if you don’t want me here, but, you know, I can stay, if you want me here.”

“Of course I want you.”

Silence struck both Charlie and Dean, who looked at Dean with rising brows. “Okay.” Dean nodded once. “That—That’s good to know.”

“So, you want to stay?” Cas clarified, beaming.

“Yeah, sure.” Dean’s lips curled upwards at the bright smile he got from Cas. Then he spun around to Charlie. “If that’s okay with you, of course.”

“Sure. I could need a hand.” She wiggled the fingers of her braced arm.

“I even got two.”

“What a luxury.”

Dean laughed weakly, smile tensing. Before anyone could say anything else, a squeal came from the door. Charlie spun around to Kevin shouting her name. He tore his hand off his mother’s and leapt at Charlie. With a laugh she crouched down, catching him. Dean’s eyes wandered back over to Cas just in time to see him turn away, still smiling lightly.

More kids streamed in. As Dean and Cas greeted the parents, all children able to rushed over to Charlie until she vanished under a crowd of small arms and heads.

Only slowly did Charlie manage to convince the kids to let her go and seek their own play. Once free, she joined the other two, greeting arriving parents and those that stayed to ask about her arm.

Her explanations were cut off by a scream, and Cas instantly rushed over to a small group of children to calm them.

A moment later, Dean saw another child, Ronald, fall flat on his face. With a furrowed brow he watched, waiting for a reaction, and saw Ronald tear up, lips quivering.

“Sorry,” Dean whispered, touched Charlie’s arm, and stepped around her to rush over.

Dean raised the chubby little boy back to his feet with a soft smile. “Hey, shhh. You hurt?”

Ronald wiped his tears with the back of his hands, nodding weakly.

“Where are you hurt?”

Between sobs, Ronald took his hands off his eyes and pointed to the centre of his face.

“Your nose? Okay, come on. Let me look.” Carefully he took Ronald’s head into his hands and tilted his head to inspect him. “Well, you’re still whole. Not even bruised.” The sobs quieted and Ronald dropped his hands, only sniffling at Dean. “So, what do you say, we find you a nice game and you forget about this, huh?”

Sniffling again, Ronald wiped the wet traces off his cheeks. “Okay.”

“That’s what I wanted to hear.” Beaming, Dean got back to his feet. He let Ronald take his hand and guided him through the room. Crouching down slightly, Dean kept pointing out toys until Ronald found one he liked. He strung Dean along, immediately handing him some of the other toys to play along.

Ronald quickly focussed on his own play, barely noticing Dean’s presence anymore. “Dean!” Charlie called. He spun his head with high brows. He saw Cas by the changing table, hair sticking to his forehead as he tried to shush a crying and squirming baby.

Dean eyes wandered over to Charlie, who was holding Kevin with her good arm and giving Dean a desperate look as two other children stood in front of her, arms stretched out.

“Coming!” Dean called and rushed back. With one more glance back, he made sure that Ronald wasn’t even taking note of his leaving. “What’s wrong?” he asked as he reached Charlie’s side.

“Tamara needs a bandaid.” Charlie pointed at the girl, who was holding her finger out with a pout. “And Lenore has a problem with Gordon. But I have Kevin and—”

“I’ll take care of it,” Dean said, holding a hand up. “Where are bandages?”

“Cabinet.” She nodded into the direction and carried Kevin away as Dean took each girl by one hand and brought them across the room.

Cas quickly shot him a puzzled look when he saw them get closer. “I’ll be done in a second, then the next can—”

“No, no, we just need a bandaid.”

“Oh.” Cas returned to Alan and shuffled aside slightly to make room for Dean to access the right drawer.

“There we go,” Dean said as he found the bandages. He grinned, crouched down, and wrapped the band aid around Tamara’s finger. “That’s better, right?” She shrugged, still pouting. “Want me to blow on it to make it better?”

This time she nodded. Dean leaned in and blew cold air onto it. “Better now?” Tamara nodded again, a smile coming to her face. 

“Good.” Dean beamed back and send her off with a pat on her back, then turned to Lenore. “Now to you. Gordon was mean to you?”

Her small hands clutching the seams of her dress, she nodded.

“All right, then we’ll go and talk to him.” He stretched his hand out until Lenore took it, and together they crossed the room again. Gordon sat in the corner, piecing an old toy back together.

“Hey, buddy,” Dean said sternly and crouched down, Lenore standing half behind him. “I heard you were being not so nice to this lady here. So, what happened?”

“He stepped on my hands,” Lenore said, lips quivering again.

“Is that true? You stepped on her hands?”

A moment long Gordon stared at him. “She’s stupid!”

“You are—” Dean stopped himself, feeling a pair of eyes on him. He turned, seeing Cas’ watchful gaze lingering on him as he put Ben back down. Drawing a deep breath, Dean turned back around. “You can’t just go around stepping on people’s hands, come on.”

“She deserved it!”

“No, she didn’t.”

“You’re stupid, too!”

“What did Lenore ever do to you that was so bad?”

“I hate her.”

“Now. Don’t say that.”

“I do.”

Lenore clutched Dean’s sleeve, shuffling closer. “Listen, you gotta play nice here, and you can’t just go and step on someone’s hand when they didn’t even do anything to you. And if they do something to you, you can come to us.”

“No.”

“You wanna be put into time-out?”

“You can’t give me time-out.”

“Wanna bet?”

Gordon shot him another glare.

“So, you gonna play nice, now?”

Gordon’s frown grew deeper.

“Apologize to Lenore. Or I’ll get Cas to put you into time-out.”

Gordon scowled, lowering his head. “Sorry,” he said, barely audible.

“You okay?” Dean asked Lenore, who nodded slowly. “Okay, good. If anything else happens, you tell us.” He climbed back to his feet and stretched his legs. “And maybe don’t play directly next to him for a bit.”

“No,” Lenore agreed quietly. “Thank you.”

“Hey, sure thing.” Grinning, Dean put a hand on her shoulder before she shuffled off.

“Dean!”

“Coming!” He instantly snapped up and rushed over to Charlie.

“I can’t even tie shoes anymore,” she said with a miserable expression, shaking her head.

A laugh escaped Dean. “Yeah, this is bad.” He crouched down to Benny, waiting with his laces open. “Maybe from now on I should just follow you around, be your two extra arms.”

“Yeah, that’d probably be easier,” she agreed with a huff. As soon as Benny’s laces were tied again, he rushed back off.

“So, where to next?” Dean asked with a smirk.

“Don’t worry, they’ll come to us before you can choose anything.”

“Oh yeah, I noticed.” He nodded, his eyes wide. Slowly they set into motion and strolled through the room without talking, carefully watching the children around them.

“So,” Dean said, carefully picking his words, following Charlie through the room. For a second he weighed his thoughts, chewing his lips. Then he gestured at her arm. “How did that happen? You had an accident?”

“Yeah.” Charlie shot a quick look around, then leaned in to whisper.,“That dick—guy just hit me with his car and threw me down.”

“Wow. That’s pretty bad. Lucky you got away with just that, huh?”

“Not luck. Pure skill.” She winked at him and moved on. “Why do you think they kept me there so long though? They were making sure nothing worse happened somewhere.”

He nodded slowly. “Well, I’m glad you’re fine. And Lisa’s going to be thrilled to hear you’re back, too. That reminds me.” He patted himself down, a crease between his brows. “She wanted me to give you something.”

“Oh, she’s already told me,” she smiled lightly, swirling as she moved on, leaning down over a small group of kids playing.

Brows high, Dean blinked once. “Oh. Okay.” His brows went together and he blinked again. His finger raised, he opened his mouth, drew his breath, and moved after her. “When did you—?”

“Phones, Dean. You know the little thing with buttons? You can speak into it and hear other people.”

“I know what a phone is.”

“Are you sure about that?”

“You think you’re so funny.”

“I’m hilarious.” Charlie smiled and threw her hair over her shoulder. “Right, kids?” Some grinned and nodded while others shouted in confirmation. “See? I’m awesome.”

“Yeah, that’s not the word I’d pick,” Dean mumbled, arms folded tightly and rolled his eyes. Something caught his attention and he froze before leaping over to stop Ash from shoving one of Lucas’ plastic soldier up his own nose. “Hey, let’s–let’s not do that, okay? If you have to shove something up your nose, take your finger. At least that comes back out.” He waved the slightly sticky figure at him, then wiped it on his shirt. “And this, we give back to Lucas. Okay?”

Ash pouted, cheeks bloated. “Okay,” he agreed quietly and wandered off, searching for something else to do.

“Great,” Dean mumbled as he got back up and stepped back over to Charlie, shaking his head. “Such a joy to work here.”

“Oh, I know.” Charlie built herself back up. “It’s a pleasure, huh?”

“I’m thrilled,” Dean deadpanned. Charlie chuckled quietly and shifted over to another group, settling with them, and Dean joined, scooting closer. “So, uh, you and Cas get along pretty well, huh?” he continued.

“Well, yeah, that’s part of the job.”

“Yeah, I know. But outside of this—”

“Dean,” she cut him off with a patient smile. “You’re not the most subtle, are you?”

Fumbling for words, Dean stared at her.

Her patient smile never waning, Charlie sighed. “Cas isn’t really my type.”

“What, really? I mean, he’s a bit… I don’t know, but he’s a good guy, right?”

“He’s a great guy. But that’s kind of the problem.” Dean blinked, furrowing his brows more tightly. Charlie rolled her eyes and leaned closer. “He’s not a girl.”

Dean’s mouth fell open and his eyes went wide in realization. “Well, that… that’s a good enough reason, yeah.” His chin fell to his chest and he nodded.

“Oh, sorry.” Charlie spun on her heels and rushed after Ronald as he tried to get his shirt off.

“Dean!” Cas called, and Dean instantly leapt back up, hurrying over to him. “Can you take care of the two?” He nodded over to Benny and Gordon, who were breaking out into tears as Cas carried Jo to the changing table.

“Sure.” Dean nodded once and crossed the room with a few steps.

“And after that check if Ben needs a new diaper,” Cas called after him.

Dean gave him a thumbs up before reaching the kids. Quickly he pulled the two apart slightly and tried to calm them both down. “What’s wrong, huh?”

“He hit me,” Benny sobbed.

“He took my figure!”

“All right, hey. Do we hit people? Do we?”

Gordon chewed his lip. “No,” he admitted, fumbling with his shirt. “But—“

“No. No one hits anyone.” He shifted, turning to Benny. “And do we take someone else’s toys away?”

Benny’s lips began to tremble and his eyes watered.

“That’s not gonna work on me, buddy,” he shrugged. “I have a brother who practically invented puppy eyes. You don’t get to take someone else’s toys away. So, give it back.” For another moment, Benny held the action figure clenched between his tiny hands. “Now,” Dean prompted, and Benny finally handed the figure back. Gordon wrapped it into his arms, holding it close.

“That’s better. Now, what else?” Benny’s expression grew even darker, the tips of his brows pulled down as low as he could. “Hey, I don’t make the rules, but you gotta be nice. So, you are you gonna apologize or not?”

“Sorry,” Benny mumbled, staring at his feet.

“You too,” he added to the other, who squirmed for a moment.

“Sorry,” Gordon then repeated.

“Are you gonna get along now?” They continued glaring at their feet. “If not, I’m gonna sit you on opposite corners of the room until you do.”

“Okay.”

“Good. And if you want something next time, what do you do?”

“Ask?”

“Exactly. And if that’s no use, you can call us. That’s what we’re here for. All clear?” They nodded, their faces clearing up slightly. “That’s what I wanted to hear.” With a satisfied smile, Dean pushed himself back up. On the way back, he swooped up Ben, and gave him a quick sniff, carefully cradling him in his arms.

Slowly he wandered back over to Cas, who was finishing up with Jo. “Thank you,” Cas said when he noticed Dean coming closer.

“No problem.”

“How’s Ben doing?”

“Smells like he could need one,” he admitted. “You want me to do that?”

“I can handle it.”

“I know that you can, but so do I.”

“That might be true, but I should handle it myself.” He glanced up from Jo to see Dean frowning at him. “Protocol, Dean.”

“Right. Of course.” He nodded once, staring at his feet until Ben started wiggling in his arms, making little, displeased sounds.

Once Cas was through with the procedure of changing diapers, he reached out to take Ben. “Can you take Jo away?”

“Done.” Dean picked her up instead, beaming at her and quietly whispered to her as Cas took over Ben.

“She is so cute.” Dean held her up next to his own face, grinning at Cas. “I could take her home.”

“You’re joking.”

“Yeah, I’m joking. I’m glad you noticed.”

“Maybe that’s not something you should say here.”

“Come on, who would take me seriously?”

“You wouldn’t be the first, Dean.” Cas let out a breath, dumping the used diaper into the bin.

“What, you had someone kidnap the kids here?” Dean blinked in disbelief.

“Not here. Not as far as I know. But teachers or other parents trying to take someone’s child home is not exactly new.”

“But you guys pay attention here, right?”

“Of course we do. If Lisa hadn’t told us you’d be bringing and picking up Ben before you did, we wouldn’t even have let you in.”

“Okay. Good to know. I guess.” Jo reached for Dean’s face, pressing her tiny hand to his stubble with a surprised look. He smiled back down at her and shifted her in his arm, stroking her cheek with a finger. “So, never any cases? Not even someone who got to the door?”

“No. A child getting lost on the way on the way to the gym is probably the worst thing that happened so far.” He frowned as he closed Ben’s diaper. “Or maybe that time one child sneaked off and fell asleep in a corner of the climber during play time.”

“Oh?”

“We didn’t even notice she was gone until it was time to go home.”

“You thought you had lost her and panicked?” Dean guessed with a spreading smile.

“Yeah. Though, to be fair, she had collected enough blankets to vanish between them. It took a few attempts before we found her.”

Dean huffed, shaking his head with a grin. He raised his head and looked at the climber in the corner. “I gotta tell you, I’d love to see you try to squeeze yourself in that thing.”

“I wasn’t the one going in.” He frowned as he dried his hands and picked Ben back up. “We checked through the windows, but it was another child who found her.”

“Oh.” Dean’s smile dropped. He turned back to it, trying to estimate the size of the entrance.

“Yes, I would fit in,” Cas sighed and rolled his eyes. “But it’s a horrible experience. Charlie’s better suited.”

“Not with that arm.”

“Well, no, but usually.”

“Yeah, I can see that.” Dean turned his head to Charlie as she held Madison’s hand, trying to stop her crying. “It would be hilarious though. Imagine the kids.”

“You mean the children maltreating me while I’m stuck?”

“Exactly that,” Dean said, beaming.

“Yeah, hilarious.” Cas shot Dean a wide-eyed look and pushed past him, holding Ben close.

“Come on, it would be kind of funny.”

“You’re free to try it out yourself.”

“Ah, I think I’m going to pass.”

“I’m sure the children would find it hilarious.”

“Nah, they like you much more, they would have way more fun. I’m only thinking of what’s best for them, Cas.”

“I’m sure you are.” Cas put Ben down and took his hand between two fingers, shaking it softly.

“Fine, don’t get stuck then.” Dean put Jo down next to Ben. “Then you have to think of something else to entertain those little beasts.”

“I think they’re captivated enough by Charlie’s arm.”

“Right.” Dean turned his head to watch a few children poke her arm carefully. “That must be exciting.”

“Probably the first broken arm they see. That’s a lot to explore.”

“Isn’t it sweet when toddlers discover their own mortality?” Dean asked with an unconvincing smile.

“I’m not sure they fully grasp that concept.”

Dean blinked at him, sinking into himself. “No. But it’s a start, right?”

“Maybe.”

For a moment Dean sized him up, biting his lip. Someone shrieked. He jerked up. Charlie was trying to hold Lenore up, head down and feet hanging over the railing of the climber. She moved her legs into the air,as Charlie tried to hold her up with her one good arm, unable to move very much.

Dean darted forwards, leaping over toys and children, and came to a shaking halt, bumping slightly into Charlie as he reached up to Lenore. “Hey,” Dean said softly and laughed. He brought her down carefully and turned her around. “What are you doing, huh?”

“Being a bit too wild,” Charlie laughed, straightening the girl’s hair. “You have to be careful.”

“I know.”

“You just ignore it.”

Lenore squirmed a little, ducking her head.

“All right, you can go,” Dean said as he set her back down to her feet, “but careful now.”

“Yeah,” she said in passing and ran off, right back to the top of the climber.

“I really need to stay closer to you,” Dean mumbled, watching Lenore with concern. “That could have ended bad.”

“Yeah. I’m starting to feel kind of useless.”

“Oh come on, you’re doing great. You still got the thing.”

“The thing?” Charlie laughed, raising her brows.

“You know. The… the teacher thing, or parent thing, or whatever it is. You can calm the kids down and stop them fighting and all that. You got them under control. That’s more than some people can dream of.”

“Yeah, but being able to cheer them up doesn’t mean much if they break their little necks first.”

He patted her shoulder. “That’s why Cas and I are here, right?”

“Yeah, I suppose.” She let her gaze wander. “Okay, come on. I want to read the kids a story.”

“Really?” Dean whined and threw his arms up as he followed her. “I love reading to them.”

“Yeah, but I didn’t get to do it for a while.”

“But I’m not going to get to do it again when you don’t need me here anymore.”

“You can always read to Ben!”

“You don’t know that. Maybe Lisa changes her mind about me in a few days.”

“She won’t. She thinks you’re doing pretty great with Ben.”

Dean blinked once. “What, you’ve been talking about me?”

Eyes wide, Charlie came to an abrupt halt. “Well, you know. We talk to parents. About what’s going on in the child’s life.”

“Right. Right, Cas said she warned you about me.”

“She didn’t warn us, she just told us you’d come over.”

“Yeah, same thing,” he waved off, pulling a face that got him a chuckle in response. Charlie dropped herself to the ground, pulling out one of the books. She waved at Cas, who started to move the children together in their reading circle. Once they noticed that Charlie was going to read to them, they stormed towards her, shuffling as close as they could, waiting with glowing eyes and open mouths.

Dean moved back towards Cas, their shoulders bumping into each other, and crossed his arms. “Man, they love her.” He smiled and shook his head.

“What did you expect?”

“I don’t know. What I remember from day care is this weird, old woman. She was horrible. I don’t think anyone really liked her.”

“I’m sorry about that.”

“I’ll get over it,” Dean whispered dramatically. “But this place is nice.”

“Thank you,” Cas said. “We try.”

“And you’re doing pretty well.” Dean smiled, blinking slowly.

Cas returned the smile shyly as Charlie began to read the story in a suspenseful whisper. They turned their heads, watching her read, their arms comfortably against each other.


	5. Chapter 5

“You got everything you need?” Lisa asked somewhat breathlessly, quickly gathering her last things and shoving them into the small purse.

“You ask that every time, and every time I say yes,” Dean said, exasperated.

“Because the one time I don’t ask is going to be the one time you don’t.”

“I got it, okay? I’ve done this a hundred times, I know what I’m doing, and Ben loves me.”

“Fine,” Lisa sighed as she fixed her earring.

“You should worry about yourself instead.”

“Why? What’s wrong?” She shot a look down on herself and back up to Dean.

“Nothing! All I’m saying is that you should care about enjoying yourself. I got him.”

“I know, you’re great with him, Dean. I’m just wondering if I’m not neglecting him.”

“Are you serious?”

“You almost spend more time with him than I do. I should be there for him.”

“That’s not true,” Dean whined, pulling a face. “You have him every night, all night, and half the day, and pretty much every weekend.”

“But he sleeps most of that time. Or I do.”

“He sleeps everywhere, all the time. And in the daycare I spend most of the time with the other kids.”

Lisa tilted her head, her lips tight. A curl fell into her face.

“I’m serious. Believe me, you will always spend the most time with him. Now you got everything?” Dean asked.

“Yeah, I got everything.” Lisa raised her hands and turned to the door.

“Then go and have fun on your date. When you’re happy, you’re going to make the little guy happy. And you got the rest of your life to do that. I only get a few nights of my life.”

Lisa turned to him with a soft smile. “Thank you.”

“Hey, any time.” Dean spread his arms with a smile. “Now go! You’re going to be late. And stop worrying. I got this.”

“Okay, okay. But if you don’t, all important numbers are in the phone. If anything goes wrong, you can call me.”

“That’s not gonna happen.”

“I’m serious. I want to know if something is up with Ben.”

“Yeah, I know. If he needs to go the hospital I’ll call you, but that’s not going to happen, so you go and have fun on your date. Who are you even going with?”

“Oh, didn’t I tell you?” He blinked and shook his head, arms spread slightly. “Strange.”

For another moment Dean only stood, looking at her in expectation. “You’re not gonna tell me, are you?”

Lisa smiled and raised her brows.

“Why not? You think I can’t handle it?”

She rolled her eyes with a smile. “I’m not telling anyone, Dean.”

“That ugly, huh?”

“Not at all,” she laughed.

“Then what?”

“We just want to keep down low for a while.”

Dean nodded slowly, lips parted and breath held. “Yeah, that makes sense,” he admitted. “So a co-worker.”

“Bye, Dean,” Lisa said with a warm smile.

“I’m just curious. Who knows what kind of people you let near Ben.”

“Bye, Dean.”

“Fine,” he sighed as she slipped out the door, waving at Ben in his bouncer once more before shutting the door.

“Have fun!” Dean called through the door, unsure if she’d hear him. With a sigh, he turned around to Ben. “So how do you feel about that, huh?” He stepped over and crouched down. “You think you can live with your mom having some fun?”

In response, Ben bobbed up, smiling brightly, and stretched his hand for Dean’s face.

“Okay, great.” Dean nodded, the corners of his lips momentarily pulling down in an impressed expression. “At least you don’t whine about it. Because I gotta tell you, if this one doesn’t work out for your mom, you might see a few people come and go.” He picked Ben up, pressing him to his chest. “Your poor mother can’t stay alone forever. I mean she could, and she might do it for you, but that’s no way to live.” Shaking his head, he carried Ben into the kitchen to search for his bottle. “You have to promise me you’re not going to be upset with her for that, okay? She’s only human and she’s trying—have you seen how much she works for you?” Dean weighed his head for a second. “Sometimes we all need some life outside of children. At least most of us. Cas probably doesn’t, but he’s a nerd.”

Dean fell silent, absentmindedly staring at the empty bottle between his fingers, his palm resting on the cold surface. Ben fidgeted in his arm, wailing quietly, and Dean jerked up. “Right. One milk coming up for you. Don’t be so impatient, buddy, I know what I’m doing.” He nudged Ben’s nose softly and turned around to fill the bottle.

Once he finished the bottle, Dean quickly fed Ben, carrying him through the rooms as he did, rambling at him. “You know what? I like talking to you,” he concluded as the bottle drained. “You don’t always argue with me when I say something. And you don’t always make me… question everything,” he added more quietly, shooting a long look out the window, his breath held. “More importantly, you don’t have all those opinions—like your mother. At least not yet. Mostly because you don’t understand what I’m saying, I guess. But if you do, at least you keep it to yourself. That makes for a nice change.” He let out a long breath, watching Ben suck out the last drops of milk. “I can’t wait for you to be a teenager and hate everything I say or do. If you still know me then, I mean. If you do, you’ll probably wish you didn’t.” He huffed quietly. “Can you imagine me as embarrassing dad—or uncle or whatever?” He put the bottle down and turned Ben up, beaming at him. “Nah, you can’t right? I’m still gonna be cool then.”

Ben erupted into a small giggle and threw his tiny hand against his face.

“Are you laughing at me?” With a groan, Dean shook his head and let Ben lean against his chest. “So much for not having an opinion, huh? You’re really like your mother, you know that? Still, could be worse, I guess. You could be like my dad.” He turned to watch Ben for a moment, a small crease between his brows. “I wonder how much of your father is in you. Maybe you’ll turn out more like him. Heh, that’d probably be a shock for everyone. Or maybe not, since nobody really knows who it is, except your mom.” He tilted his head back, trying to get a better look at him. “Maybe we could get some clues on him from you, what do you think?”

Ben’s little hands beat against Dean’s chest as he threw his legs around, making small noises. Dean ran a hand over his back to calm him. “You want more action, don’t you? We can arrange that.” He shot a hurried look around, searching through the brightly colored toys scattered around the room before finding the one he had been looking for. Carefully he placed Ben on the little blanket by the couch and picked up a glittering rattle. He shook it in front of Ben, who stared at it, mesmerized. His eyes followed it slowly as a grin spread on his face. He pressed his tiny hands tightly together and erupted into small giggles every time the rattle sounded up again.

For a moment Dean huffed along, beaming at Ben. “You are so easy to impress.” He shook the rattle again, drawing another giggle from Ben. “I mean, sure, I have to think of something new every five minutes, but hey, as long as it only takes a few of these things, I’m not complaining. You know how hard  it was to keep Sammy in a good mood when I had to babysit him? I had to think of everything, ‘cause he isn’t just happy watching crappy TV like any other normal kid. He wants you to actually do stuff with him, get him to think about something, let him run around and have it be fun. That’s not done with chasing him through the garden or letting him water the plants. The kid was exhausting. But you?” He gave the rattle another shake, making Ben giggle quietly. “You take what you can get. That I can get behind.”

He let the little game go on for a while, until Ben’s giggles started to wear off, and then he picked out another toy. For some more time he played along with him, letting small toy cars drive around as Ben tried to crawl after them and catch them, and each time Dean wound them back up to let them drive again.

Only when they had gone through the majority of the scattered toys and Dean’s elbows, legs, and back had started to ache from the slightly awkward position he had taken next to Ben, did he decide that he’d had enough, and climbed back up to his legs with a long groan. Ben watched him curiously as he stretched his back, groaning louder. “Ben, I’m getting old,” Dean sighed, shaking his head. “Maybe your mom should give me yoga lessons before I can’t keep up with you anymore.”

Eyes fixed on him, Ben sucked in his lip, then turned away. With unfocussed moves, he poked around the car still lying next to him.

“All right, Ben,” Dean said more seriously. “I know you like your cars and all, but I think it’s time for your bath. You okay with that?” He swooped him up, holding him close. “You wanna take a nice little bubble bath?” he whispered, stroking Ben’s head. “You love those baths, you water-bug. Last time I could barely get you out of it. So if you don’t like them anymore, then I will—” he trailed off, nodding to himself with glassy eyes as he stepped towards the bathroom. “Well, to be honest, I don’t really know what I will do. Yet. Probably try to get you to not cry.”

He grabbed the phone from the station as they passed it and dropped it into his pocket. Once in the bathroom, he placed a laundry basket in the bathtub and filled it with water. As the tap gushed, he took Ben’s clothes off, humming a song about baths he made up while he was humming it. “Shh, hold still,” he murmured as he tried to get Ben to stop pulling his legs up and let him take his clothes off, before resuming his humming.

Once Dean had him undressed, he picked Ben up with an almost proud smile. “So, you ready for some bath time?” He carried him over to the tub. Holding Ben in arm, he stretched the other into the water, checking the temperature again. He nodded his head, weighing it slightly, then pressed the still wet fingers to Ben, who instantly leaned into the touch, kicking his legs again. “Seems good to you?” He lowered Ben into the water, carefully placing him in the basket.

A sharp cry cut through Dean’s ears. He winced. “Hey, hey, Ben, shhh. What’s wrong?” He reached into the bathtub. “Is the water too cold? Too hot?” Carefully he stroked over Ben’s head, running water through his thin hair and shushing him. “Hey, it’s all fine,” he said carefully. “You’ve only been in there for five minutes. You can’t want out of it again.” Ben’s crying grew louder. 

Dean picked up one of the toys swimming in the tub. “Hey, look,” he said, smiling and shaking the toy at Ben. Despite the quiet rattling sounds, Ben continued crying, big tears rolling over his cheeks.

Dean let out a sigh, dropped the toy and lifted Ben out the water, quickly wrapping him into a towel. Leaning him against his chest, Dean cradled him carefully and paced up and down the bathroom, humming. For minutes the crying continued, only making Dean more tense. “Come on,” he groaned. “Please, Ben. Just stop, okay? Look, I’m here. You can’t be hungry, you can’t have a wet diaper because you’re not wearing a diaper. You--” he stopped, placing a hand on Ben’s head. “You don’t have a fever. You have no reason to be crying. Come on, you’re not missing Lisa, I know you don’t miss her, don’t pretend you do.”

Dean let out a long sigh to calm himself, stroking over Ben’s head, leaned against his chest. Carefully, he carried him out the room. “Are you cold?” he asked, wrapped the towel more carefully around him and warming Ben’s feet. “Is that it?”

Still Ben continued to cry, not quieting down. If anything, it got louder. Pacing the hallway, Dean let out a tense breath. “Come on,” he groaned again, teeth clenched. “What do you want? Do you want a pony? Because I promise I will buy you one if you just stop crying.”

Ben turned his head into Dean’s chest. His crying grew even more shrill.

For another few minutes, Dean paced, shushing him, trying to argue him out of crying to no avail. The more time passed, the more he tensed, until he let out an exhausted sigh. “What am I supposed to do, huh? Ben, I don’t know what you want.” He shot him a long, desperate look. Ben just continued to cry.

“All right, that’s it,” Dean decided with a sigh and turned around. “I’m calling your mom. I’m sorry, but apparently I make a miserable dad, so there’s that.”

Trying to handle the crying baby, who was kicking his small legs against him, with one arm,  Dean tried to fish the phone back out of his pocket, and flipped through the numbers. He shook his head with a sigh. “She’s gonna hate me for this.” He froze. His fingers hovered over the call-button. With parted lips and glassy eyes he stared down at the number glowing at him under the name “Cas.”

Dean blinked once, drawing a deep breath. He shot a glance at Ben, who squirmed and raised a hand to his eyes, and pressed the call-button. His  breathing shaky, Dean pressed the phone to his ear as he started to rock Ben again.

“Hello?” a gruff voice sounded through the phone.

“Hey. Shh, shh! It’s okay.”

“Dean?” came the hesitant question.

“Yeah! Hey!” Dean spun around, the phone tucked between his ear and shoulder to have both hands free for Ben.

“Is everything all right?”

“Yeah. Yeah, it’s just…” He silenced for a moment. “Actually, now that I think about it, I shouldn’t have called. Ben won’t stop crying and I found your number and I thought, maybe you know something, but it’s your free day and I shouldn’t— I should just call Lisa. I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine,” Castiel said calmly. “Is he fed, does he need a new—”

“Cas, come on. Maybe I’m bad at this, but not that bad. I did all that. I fed him, I checked his temperature. I was giving him a bath and two minutes in he starts screaming his head off, and he won’t stop. The water was fine, everything was great.”

A second long Cas was silent. Something rustled in the background, but Dean was unable to make it out through Ben’s frantic crying. “Did you use a new soap or shampoo, maybe?”

“What?”

“New smells can irritate small children,” he said, and Dean could hear him grunt while moving. “Unless he is allergic to something.”

Brows tightly furrowed, Dean took Ben in both hands and held him up. Still crying, he held him up in front of his face and turned him slightly, inspecting him from all sides, but only saw smooth skin . “He looks like he always does. And the soap was already half empty anyway.” He pulled Ben back to his chest and picked the phone up again. “I don’t think that’s it.”

Again Cas fell silent. “Then I can’t tell you anything either. At least from here.”

“All right. Should I take him to a hospital or something?” Dean asked quietly, a concerned look on his face. “I’m seriously running out of ideas here—”

“If you prefer. Or I could come over. If you want.”

“Really? You would? You don’t have to. Like I said, I could just call Lisa—“

“I’m aware. But I promise you, Dean, it’s no problem. Are you at Lisa’s?”

“Yeah. Do you need the address?”

“I got it.”

“Okay,” Dean said quietly, wrapping his arm a bit more tightly around Ben. “Thank you.”

“I will see you soon.”

Before Dean could say anything else, Cas had hung up. Dean dropped the phone back into his pocket. Exhaling one long breath, he wrapped his arms around Ben more tightly and resumed his pacing. He tried humming to him again, begging him to quiet down, at least a bit. The longer Ben cried, the more Dean tensed up, his hums hardening.

When the doorbell finally rang, Dean spun around and rushed to the door. With a sigh he threw it open, aware that he had never been so glad to see Cas—or anyone else.

A smile lit up Cas’ face, despite his hair hanging into his face, slightly damp from the light rain falling. His eyes wandered over to Ben and his expression grew concerned. “Hey, what’s wrong?” he asked softly and took Ben from Dean.

“You want me to—” Dean began, but silenced when Cas walked right past him, carrying Ben deeper inside. Dean dropped the door shut and followed.

“You said you didn’t use anything new?” Cas  asked, carefully running a hand from Ben’s forehead over his cheeks and neck.

“Nothing. No new smells, or lights or anything. It’s all the same as always. Except that it’s me giving him a bath and not Lisa, but then he would have calmed down by now. Right?”

“Probably.”

“I swear he’s never like this with me. He knows me, we get along!” For a tense moment, Dean watched Cas inspect Ben, trying to cheer him up. “You got any ideas?”

“One. Maybe two,” Cas added hesitantly. “But if that’s not it, I would probably see a doctor.”

“Great. That’s very reassuring. Thank you.”

“It’s not your fault, Dean,” he said, shooting him a frown, and made his way down the hallway. “Where can I lie him down?”

“Bedroom’s right there,” Dean said, gesturing to the door Cas was heading for anyway. Cas entered, and carefully put Ben down, pulling away from the legs kicking up at him.

Carefully, Dean stepped over, both crouching down besides the bed. Cas took Ben’s legs into his hands and carefully bent them upwards. A second long Dean watched, puzzled. Ben’s crying ceased slowly, leaving the room quiet enough to hear the low farting noise coming from Ben each time Cas bent his legs again. An amused expression crossed Cas’ face as he watched Ben calm down.

“Are you serious?” Dean asked after a moment. He blinked once, his face dropping. “That’s it? He was gassy?”

“Yes, that’s it. Sometimes babies get that. They don’t know how to pass gas, so sometimes it gets stuck. It’s uncomfortable and, well, the only thing they can do about it is cry until someone helps. It doesn’t happen often. Few babies ever get it.”

Dean thought about it for a moment, quiet. “Huh.” He turned towards Ben, who wiggled around on the bed, stretching his little hands out towards Dean’s face. Dean shot him a smile and stroked his head once. He shook his head and turned to Cas. “Man, babies are freaking weird.”

“You’re telling me.”

After a moment of silence, Dean broke out into quiet laughter. He nodded, turning back up to Cas with a warm smile. The look lingered between them as the seconds passed. Their smiles slowly faded, yet they remained unable to move their eyes off each other.

Dean’s lips began to tremble slightly as the warm look between them stretched on. “Well,” Dean said loudly, cleared his throat, and turned to Ben again. He took his hand and moved it slightly. “Guess we can forget your bath now, huh? It’s probably freezing cold by now.”

“Well, we could start a new one, if you didn’t get to finish the last one,” Cas said, picked up Ben and let him rest against his chest. “Unless you want me to leave, of course. I would understand.”

“No!” Dean said, a bit too hurriedly and loudly. “I mean, it’s your free day and all, I’m sure you don’t want to spend it helping some clueless dude doing the same thing you do all the time already.”

“I don’t mind, really. I wouldn’t have come here if I did.”

“All right.” He swallowed. “Well, you can stay as long as you want. Or at least until Lisa comes home.”

“Sounds good.” Cas got back to his feet and Dean led him to the bathroom. Dean quickly turned on the faucet, adding warm water to the cold until the bath reached the right temperature.

“Let’s try this again, okay?” Dean asked as he took Ben from Cas and held him up. “And no crying this time. Can you do that?”

Cas smiled softly, watching Dean carefully lower Ben into the little plastic tub, and dropped himself onto the closed toilet seat. “Can I ask you something?”

Briefly, Dean looked up between little noises he made to entertain Ben as he washed him. “Sure.”

“Why did you call me instead of Lisa?”

Dean’s head shoot up again. For a second he froze, brows high and mouth open. He blinked once. “I don’t know,” he mumbled, shrugging and turning back to Ben. “I just went through the phone and your number was there. Just kind of thought it was a good idea.” His breath fluttered for a second. He shot another glance at Cas, then looked back down. “And well, I thought I probably shouldn’t disturb Lisa’s date. It’s her first time out in…” He shook his head, then nodded at Ben. “A while.”

“I’m sure she would understand. In fact,” Cas said as he opened his raincoat and slipped out, “a lot of parents I know prefer having an update when they go out for the first time. Or at least have a hard time not thinking about their kids. She might be glad to hear from you.”

“Yeah, I don’t think she’d like to hear this kind of thing. I mean, not that you would on your free day either. Hey, do you realize that looks pretty weird?” he changed the topic, nodding at Cas. His brows went together and Cas looked down at himself, noticing that he was still sitting on the closed toilet.

“Sorry,” Cas mumbled, getting up to sit on the edge of the bathtub instead. “So, what makes you think Lisa wouldn’t want to hear about him?”

“Because it’s her free evening. She’s having a nice day for the first time in forever and I don’t want to call and tell her that I screwed up so she has to come home or ends up worrying about him for the rest of the night.”

For a moment Cas sat. His brows furrowed tightly, he stared Dean down, his head tilted to the side. “You think she would blame you.” Dean’s eyes widened. His lips shaking slightly, he shot Cas a look.

“I just don’t want her to think I’m a bad parent.” A weak smile fluttered over Dean’s lips as he shrugged.

“But you’re not,” Cas said with a sincere look on his face. “Dean, you encountered a rare problem that you weren’t familiar with and when you were at your wit’s end you called for help. That’s the best thing you can do. No parent can know everything. Even the teachers who have worked at our facility the longest don’t know everything. As long as you don’t put your own pride over his safety and well-being, you’re not as bad as you think. You didn’t put your own pride over his safety and well-being. That’s a good thing.”

The corners of Dean’s lips twitched and his lids fluttered. For a second he only watched Cas, lips curled slightly. “I’m really glad you came, Cas.”

A beaming smile lit up Cas’ face in response. Their eyes lingered on each other for another few moments. Dean turned away again, clearing his throat, and Cas couldn’t help but notice that Dean’s ears were turning pink. “All right, Ben,” Dean said, as the little one held his rubber duck out to Dean’s face, cooing quietly, “if you can put that ducky down for a second, we can get you all washed up. You and all those little folds.” He shifted Ben into another angle, and he squealed, flailing his arms. “You know what? Your belly is way too round. If you keep this up, you’ll end up looking like you swallowed a football,” Dean teased, pointing at his nose. “What’s your mom gonna think, huh?”

Again Ben squealed, shifting against the cloth Dean was washing him with. Cas sat up, frowning at the child. “His weight is perfectly fine. He seems in perfect health.”

“I know,” Dean chuckled. “Come on, even Ben knows I’m just kidding. Right, Ben? You know I’m just kidding, don’t you? Yeah you do. Even though you don’t know what I’m saying. And you know why he knows that? Because I’m not the one to talk.” He leaned a bit closer to Ben, his voice quiet and his brows high. He gave his own belly a satisfied pat, grinning. “Then we’ll both look like we ate a football. At least we got each other. Wanna give me a high-five for that?” Dean held his hand out and carefully put it against Ben’s.

From the corner of the tub, Cas grinned at them as Dean washed Ben, holding him up with a warm smile and laughing quietly when Ben tried to shift away from the cloth.

“That’s better, huh?” Dean asked as he lifted Ben out of the water and wrapped him in a towel again. Ben giggled under the towel as Dean dried him. “One squeaky clean baby.” He carried him across the bath, shaking his head.

“You want me to take him?”

“Yeah, please.” Dean carefully placed Ben in Cas’s arms and gathered their things. “His room’s over there.”

Cas nodded quickly, and carried Ben back to his room. Cradling him in his arms, Cas shot him a long smile. Ben stared up at him with big eyes, pulling the corner of his towel to his open mouth with tight little fists. Cas paced the room for the moment he was left alone with Ben. “I knew you had a nice mom. But I hadn’t known you also had such a nice… Dean. You are very lucky,” he added in a whisper. When Dean entered the room again, Cas’ head shot back up and he turned to face Dean.

“I could have thought this through better and taken these with me from the start,” Dean announced upon entering, dropping Ben’s clothes on the changing table. He let out a sigh and straightened his back before turning to Cas and Ben. “All right then, let’s get you dressed, you little nudie.”

Ben squeaked, shoving his little fist into his mouth as Cas carried him over. He carefully placed Ben on the table for Dean to dress him. Cas hovered over his shoulder, giving him a hand in holding Ben in place and putting his legs and arms into the sleeves and trouser-legs despite his attempts to pull away.

Once they had him all dressed, Dean proudly held Ben up, beaming at him. “There we go. You’re looking good. What do you think, huh?” He turned around to Cas, holding Ben closer to himself to present the blue shirt over his onesie with an elephant on the chest. A grin shone from his face. “Can he pick up all the chicks in this outfit? Or you know, whoever.”

By his side, Ben threw this legs around cooing with his mouth open. A smile began to curl Cas’ lips.

Cas nodded, his nose wrinkling in a smile. “He would definitely get all the attention if he came into class with this.”

“Yeah, that’s what I think,” Dean agreed, lowering Ben slightly and grinned at him. “That little elephant definitely has something. That’d get him all the looks. Not everyone can pull that off.”

“Definitely not,” Cas agreed more seriously than was appropriate. Slowly, his lips began to tremble, until a laugh broke through them. He dropped his head, leaning himself against the table. His entire body shook with laughter as Dean only eyed him carefully.

“Did we break him?” he whispered to Ben, then turned back. He rolled his eyes with a groan. “Don’t tell me you’re imagining me in this thing.”

Biting his laugh down, Cas shook his head. “I’m sorry.”

“You wouldn’t look too hot in this either, you know.”

Cas began to chuckle again and turned his head away. While he was looking away, Dean scanned him briefly, then shrugged in admittance, brows high and the corners of his lips pulled down, thinking that the shirt would look strangely good on Cas. Ridiculous, still, but the color would highlight his eyes and make him look even softer than he usually did.

“Well then, if Cas here can calm himself down, we can go and get you your kitty for five minutes before you have to sleep. How does that sound to you? Good?” Dean lifted Ben above his head again, grinning at him, then pulled him back into his arms. “Yeah, bet you’d love that.” He gave Cas a quick nod, signaling him to follow, and brought Ben back into the living room. Holding Ben in his lap, he sat down, close to his collected toys, and waved a grey toy cat at him that was almost as big as Ben’s torso.

For a moment he only sat, shaking the cat at Ben who stared, arms slowly following, as Dan beamed down on him. It took a moment before he noticed Cas still stiffly standing a few feet behind him. With raised brows Dean turned to him. He huffed once. “Cas, you don’t have to stand there and wait for an invitation. Just make yourself at home.” He gestured at the couch. “Sit down, do what you want.” He hesitated for a second. “You want something to drink or eat?”

“No,” Cas said hurriedly, slowly stepping over to the couch, “I’m fine.”

“All right,” Dean shrugged, turning to Ben again. He took another glance at Cas and scoffed, seeing him only sit on the edge of the couch, barely even touching it. “Dude, do you ever get comfortable?”

Cas opened his mouth, hesitated and closed it again. “It just takes a while.”

“Well, you do what you need.” Dean watched Ben handle his cat, picking it back up when it escaped Ben’s grip and whispering softly to him. He waited a few more seconds before he placed Ben on his blanket on the ground, the toy still in his arms, before he sat on the couch and turned to Cas, who was still watching Ben. “You want to watch TV or something?” 

With a frown, Cas turned to him. “If you want.”

“I’m asking if you want to.”

“Either is fine with me.”

“All right,” Dean groaned. “I’ll just take that as a no. Hey, uh, you haven’t gotten into any trouble because of me, right?”

“At work?”

“Yeah.”

“It’s all fine,” Cas assured him with a soft smile.

“I just—you know.”

“Dean, I assure you, there is no need to worry. I appreciate the concern, but everything is fine, and if it wasn’t, I could handle it.”

“Okay.” Dean raised his hands, pulling back. “You’re the boss.”

Dean could feel the puzzled look Castiel was giving him as he picked up a toy and shook it at Ben, making him crawl back over in an attempt to reach it.

“You sure you don’t want to watch anything?”

“Dean, you can turn on the TV if it makes you more comfortable.”

“I just don’t want you to get bored.”

“I’m not bored.”

“You want to drink something?”

“No.” Cas watched Ben for a second. “I could leave, if you want.”

“I’m not trying to make you leave, I just want to make sure you’re at least comfortable, when I already dragged you out here to do your job on your day off.”

“Don’t worry,” Cas said with the hint of a smile, “I’m perfectly comfortable.”

“Just from watching Ben?”

“And talking to you,” Cas added with a nod, “but yes. I thought that was enough for you, too.”

“Yeah sure. For a while at least. But I only got this one kid—and not even very often. You have over a dozen kids in that group. Doesn’t it get tiring to watch kids all day?”

“Sometimes, sure.” Cas reached down, picking up the toy cat when Ben had accidentally pushed it onto his feet, and offered it back to him. “But there are moments where you remember why you picked the job. Like this one.” Ben wrapped his arms around the cat, suckling on its ear and staring off into space.

“All right,” Dean groaned, getting up from the couch. He crouched down and pulled Ben plus cat into his arms. “I’m just gonna put Ben to bed real quick—”

“Of course.” Cas leapt to his feet. “Then I’ll leave.”

“What? No. I—I mean, you don’t have to. You could stay and watch a movie with me or something,” Dean suggested, blinking once. “Or I could cook something up,” he added with a weak laugh.

Cas opened his mouth, breath held, and closed it again. He shot Dean a smile from tight lips. “I should go. I still have some things to do.” Dean blinked, nodding reluctantly. “But thank you for the offer.”

“Yeah, sure.” Dean forced a shaking smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Well, the offer stands for another time.”

Cas smiled back for a second. “I will remind you. Now,” he said as he raised his hands slightly and turned his head, scanning the room in confusion. “Where is my—”

“Bathroom, Cas.”

“Right.” He stalked off, and a moment later returned with his jacket, slipping in as he passed Dean.

“Okay.” Dean followed him to the door, firmly clearing his throat. “Well, thank you for your help today. Really. I can imagine it sucking to be called here on your day off, really.”

“I told you, it’s fine.” Cas opened the front door to the rain, pouring even more strongly than before. Both shot a disgruntled look out into it. Dean cradled Ben more carefully, guarding him from the cold, before Cas stepped out. “Besides, you did the same for me the last few days.”

“Yeah, still,” Dean mumbled, staring at his feet as he dragged them over the floor. “But hey, if your car ever breaks down or something, feel free to call me. Any time. Even on my free days.”

Cas laughed quietly, his chin dropping to his chest, and small raindrops crept over his neck, into his jacket. Slowly he nodded, lifting his head again. “Goodbye, Dean,” he said softly, his hair sticking to his face. A moment long he stood, a warm smile lingering on his face. Dean’s breath fluttered slightly. Before he could catch it, Cas nodded once more, and wandered into the rain, vanishing around the corner.

Dean drew a deep breath, eyes directed at the heavy, grey clouds pouring themselves out, and exhaled again. He turned his head around to Ben, who was staring at him with big eyes and drooling slightly.  “Oh, don’t look at me like that,” Dean whined, catching Ben’s gaze. He wiggled in his legs, and curled a fist around the collar of Dean’s shirt, pulling on it. “Yeah, yeah, come on, let’s get you to sleep.” He stepped back into the house, casting a long look outside into the rain, before he threw the door shut behind him.


	6. Chapter 6

Coffee cup in his hands, Cas dropped himself against the table next to Charlie. “So, how was your date?”

A smile curled Charlie’s lips until she was practically beaming. “It was great. You know, a bit weird, dating a mother and all, but it was great.”

“That’s good to hear. And you still don’t want to tell me who it is?”

“No way.”

“Why not?” Cas asked, brows tightly furrowed.

“I can’t.”

“I don’t see why. It’s not like I know her.”

“Well, what if you did?”

Castiel’s brows drew together as he stared at her for a moment. “Oh my god,” he said quietly, getting up. “You’re dating Lisa?”

“What?” Charlie’s voice pitched high, and she laughed nervously, tugging on her shirt. “What makes you think that?”

“Dating a parent is the only reason you would act this way. And since Lisa had a date the same day—”

“She told you?” Charlie slouched, looking at him with disappointment.

“No. But Dean did.”

“Oh, and why did he tell you that?” A grin spread on Charlie’s face and she shuffled closer, nudging Cas slightly. “Did you two have a little—”

“Don’t change the topic.”

“I’m just asking.”

“He just asked me for advice while he was babysitting Ben and mentioned that Lisa was having a date,” Cas said with a nod. “Which apparently was with you.”

“Oh. You’re not gonna rat me out, are you?”

“Of course not. Charlie, you know me.”

“I know that you ran right over to Missouri and Victor when I broke a tiny rule.”

“It was my second day. I was told to follow the rules and didn’t know better yet.”

“Good thing you have me to corrupt you, huh?” Beaming, Charlie nudged him with her braced elbow.

Cas smirked, shifting under her touch. “So, it’s Lisa.”

“She’s really amazing. She’s funny and she knows what she wants. And we really can handle it. Neither of us wants to screw Ben up, or this job, or, you know, anything.”

“You could have told me. I would have understood.”

“Next time I’ll tell you from the start.”

“Next time?” Cas stared at her with a startled look, and Charlie shrugged with a sweet smile. Exhaling a breath, Cas shook his head. “Thank you.” He pressed his lips together before he turned, noticing Dean coming closer. His face lit up again.

“Hey,” Cas said, somewhat breathlessly.

“Hey—Morning.” Dean stilled for a second, his smile freezing on his lips. As Charlie removed herself, checking on Jo, Dean shot a look down at his feet, lips tight and cheeks blushed a faint pink. “Hey, I’m sorry about yesterday—”

“Why?” Cas asked and tilted his head, genuine concern in the cleft between his brows.

“I mean, because you had to come all the way over. In the rain. And do your job even though it wasn’t a work day, and I just… I’m sorry about having bothered you.”

“You didn’t bother me, Dean, I told you. I…” Cas hesitated, the faintest smile curling the corner of his lip and weighed his head. “I liked coming over, I told you that. It really wasn’t a problem.”

“Still,” Dean mumbled. “I feel kind of bad about it.”

“If it helps you, I will make sure to take you up on your offer.” Cas picked up Madison, who had been holding her arms out to him. “Or I could just call you to come and watch the kids again.”

“Hey, that’s barely doing you a favor. That’s probably more fun for me than help for you.”

Cas smiled to himself, cradling Madison.

“Honestly it was awesome to be here these few days.” Dean’s expression fell. His eyes went wide and mouth left open. “I can’t believe I was only here for so little time.”

“I told you. Time passes differently for us.”

“Yeah, you can say that,” Dean huffed. He let his gaze wander across the group. He swallowed the lump in his throat. “Man, I’m going to miss this.”

“It’s hardly the last time you will ever see anyone here.”

“No, but probably the last time I’ll be here to help out. Even if it’s not long,” Dean added with a frown at his watch.

Cas nodded, his smile fading. “Maybe something will turn up.”

“Let’s hope so. Hey, if you ever go on trips or anything and need parents to supervise the kids—”

“Even though you’re not a parent, strictly speaking.”

“Well, maybe I could still go in Lisa’s stead. If I get the day off.”

A faint smile returned to Cas’ face. “I suppose we can bend the rules a little.”

“Now that’s the attitude I was hoping for,” Dean said, beaming. Immediately after, though, a frown clouded his brow. “But you’re not teaching that stuff to Ben, right?”

“You have seen us work. Rules are very important. To the children, at least.”

Dean laughed, head low and a hand held up.

“They just can’t estimate when it makes sense to bend or break the rules,” Cas hurried to explain.

“I know what you mean,” Dean laughed, “but that sounded perfect.”

“Hey,” Charlie called over. “Hate to interrupt you two, but I could use a hand here.”

“Coming!” Dean called and rushed over to her and Tamara, who was holding her hair together with both hands. “What’s the matter now?”

“Her hair tie fell out. And one hand is not enough to fix it.”

“Oh, okay, sure. Come here.” Dean sat onto a small chair, legs spread wide, and stretched the hair band onto his fingers as he tried to tame Tamara’s thick locks.

Tamara moaned quietly, her teeth clenched.

“Am I pulling your hair too tight?”

She nodded, pouting.

“Sorry.” Dean let go slightly and fastened the tie. “How’s that?”

Tamara reached up, feeling over her hair.

“Looks good to me.” Charlie beamed.

“It’s okay,” Tamara decided with a nod.

“Good enough for me.” Dean threw his hands up, and watched Tamara walk off again. “Hey, how’s your arm?”

“Not as bad as at the start, but it’ll need some time.”

Dean nodded, eyes fixed on the arm. “You think you’ll get along here alone?”

“Sure. Most of the stuff I can’t do is the kind of thing you didn’t do either. Cas can take over for it. I’ll just have to focus on stopping fights and such, the rest is for him.”

“Poor Cas, man.”

“Yeah. But hey, no more stinky diapers for at least two more weeks.”

Dean laughed, throwing his head back. “Appreciate it while it lasts. If Cas is clever he’ll leave every diaper for you once that arm is whole again.”

“He is clever. But not cruel.”

“Lucky for you.” Dean pushed himself off the chair and back to his feet. From a distance he watched Cas talk to Alan, who watched him attentively. “So now he has to continue with the same workload that I already couldn’t take off him?”

“Pretty much, yeah. Though, I think Anna was going to come over later to check on us. Unless someone else gets hit by a car we should be fully staffed again tomorrow, so I hope we’ll get some help.”

“Okay, good.” Dean nodded, lids fluttering. “It’s going to be so weird not to come here anymore.”

“I know. If it’s any comfort, the kids will miss you terribly.”

“Oh, they better,” Dean said with an overly stern look.

Charlie laughed quietly, moving on through the room. “Hey, can you help me with one more thing?”

“Sure, whatever you need.”

“Just get me that box out of the shelf. It’s too clunky for one hand, no matter what I do.”

“Don’t worry. I get it. This one?” Dean asked, pointing. Charlie nodded in return, and he pulled it out with a groan. He shot her a look over the box as he set it down on the table. “Clunky I get, but you didn’t say heavy.”

“You find that heavy?”

Dean narrowed his eyes to slits. “Keep making fun of me, see if I help you again.”

“Of course you will.”

“Yeah, that’s probably true.” He hung his head in defeat. “Anything else? Another box?”

“Nope, all done, for now. And if something else is up I’ll get Cas.”

“He’s already busy with diapers and feeding service. If you need something now ask me. He can probably need the break.”

“How thoughtful,” Charlie said with a teasing smile, “but no. Nothing more.”

“All right.” Dean nodded once, gaze trailing over the crowd again. “Good.”

“You all right?”

Dean snapped around, brows high. “Yeah! Sure. I’m fine. It’s just… a weird vibe, you know? Maybe because I’m getting kind of useless now, maybe because I’m about to go.”

Charlie rubbed his arm with a soft smile.

“Oh, come on. Don't—Don't do that.” He pulled away, a soft pink creeping up his ears. “It’s just, I don’t know. Strange, you know? Different.”

“Yeah, I get what you mean.”

“Well, I should—“ Dean gestured towards the door. “But it was great to meet you! I get why Lisa likes you.”

“Oh, thank you,” Charlie said with a small smile. “You too.”

“And don’t let those kids get you down.”

“No, Sir.”

“And, uh,” Dean said as he pointed to the top of the climber, “always watch the railing.”

Charlie grinned back. “And you come back some time.”

“Oh, don’t say that, I will take you up on the offer.”

“Good.”

Dean grinned to himself and turned around, hands in his pockets. Before he could get very far, Krissy stopped him, and held out her arm. With the other hand, she held up a small bracelet. “Can you put that back on?”

“Yeah, sure.” 

Dean crouched down, tying the bracelet around Krissy’s wrist with quick moves as she watched him. “Are you going away?” she asked.

“Yeah, I’m afraid so.”

“Why?”

“Because I have to go back to work. To my real job, I mean.”

“Why?”

“So I can make money.”

“Why?”

“You’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you?”

Krissy grinned at him, shuffling her feet.

With a faint smile, Dean shook his head and tilted his head to see the knot he was tying. “There, all done. Happy?”

“Yes!” She beamed at her bracelet, then at him. “Thank you!” She leapt forward and hugged him tightly. Slowly, he placed his hands on her back, returning the hug, before she let go again. “I’ll miss you.”

His smile softened. “I’ll miss you too.”

“Can you come back?”

“Maybe. We’ll see.”

“I hope you do.”

“Then I’ll try.” She beamed at him again. “Bye, Krissy.”

“Bye.” Krissy hugged him again, and ran off as soon as she let go. Dean swallowed heavily and got back up. His knees weak, he dragged himself across the room. “Cas?” Cas turned around to Dean, brows high in silent expectation. “Um, it’s—It’s getting kind of late and,” Dean said, letting out a long breath, shoulders visibly dropping, “I should go. They expect me back today.”

“Oh,” Cas said quietly, stilling for a second, a crease between his brows and eyes fixed on the ground. “Of course, yes.” Cas gave him a quick nod and breathed in. “Thank you, Dean. For everything. Really, I wish I could repay you for what you did.”

“It’s no problem,” Dean waved him off. “I really liked it here, I gotta tell you.”

A smile tugged on the corner of Cas’ lips. “I’m glad to hear that.”

For a moment Dean looked at Cas, a warm smile lingering on his face, and he nodded softly. His smile began to drop and he shifted. Pink creeping up his cheeks and ears, Dean turned his head down and cleared his throat. “Could I, um… You know. Could I see you again?”

“Of course,” Cas said with a quick nod.

Dean’s head snapped up, his brows high. “Really?”

“Sure. You’re free to come over whenever you want.”

The muscles in Dean’s face gave in, and his expression fell along with his shoulders. “Oh. Okay. Right. That’s great, thanks.” Dean shot Cas a short, tight smile and nodded once. He gestured over his shoulder. “I should go.”

With a quizzical expression, Cas stared at him, lips parted slightly, but Dean was already stepping back. “All right, bye,” Cas said weakly.

“Yeah, bye,” Dean said quietly, and briefly raised a hand, waving with only two fingers stretched out. For a second, a sad smile flickered over his face. “See you around.”

“Yeah,” Cas agreed in a soft voice, nodding. He watched Dean step out the door and vanish.

Castiel’s brows furrowed at the closing door. “Was that wrong?” He turned his head to Charlie, kneeling with a child in her arms. She nodded at him with a pitiful expression. A sigh escaped Cas, and his shoulders dropped low. He returned to staring at the door.

“Cas!” Tamara cried, waddling over. “I got poop!”

Cas drew a breath and turned around, putting on the best smile he could manage.

“I got it,” Charlie said firmly and got to her legs.

“Are you sure?”

“Very.”

Dean hurried down the colorful but empty hallway with firm steps echoing back at him. He wiped over his face, his hand trembling, and exhaled a long breath. He swallowed hard, trying to ease the burning feeling in the back of his throat, below his Adam’s apple.

“Dean?” a somehow far-too-familiar voice called from behind him. Before he could think about it, Dean stopped and turned on his heels, watching Cas slip out of the classroom and carefully close the door behind himself. He stood, waiting for Cas to catch up with him. “Did I say something wrong?” Cas asked as he got closer.

Dean’s brows went together for a split second as Dean fought with the urge to leap forward, but then sank into himself and sighed. “No, it’s not your fault. Maybe I shouldn’t have asked, but I got the message, and I’m not going to bring it up again.”

“What message?” Cas asked, shaking his head with a deep crease between his brows, his head tilted slightly. “Dean, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Oh, come on, Cas! Do I really need to spell it out for you?”

“I’m sorry. I just don’t—”

“Oh god.” Dean dragged a hand over his face as he shifted his weight from one leg to the other. “I was asking you out on a date, okay?”

“Oh.”

“Yeah. Look, we don’t have to talk about this again, and I—“

“I would love that,” Cas admitted with a light, but warm smile, directed at the ground.

“I get if you don’t—“ Dean trailed off, his expression softening. “You would?”

“Very much so, yes.”

Dean’s lips twitched into a grin, and he quickly build himself up again, trying to regain his composure. “Okay.” For a moment he only nodded. “Then, I guess I’ll call you, right?”

“I hope so.”

“All right.” Dean’s smile grew wider, eyelids fluttering. Slowly, he stepped back, unable to take his eyes off Cas, who was still smiling at him. He bumped into the door and jumped up. Blushing furiously he spun around, not daring to look back. Only when he heard Cas chuckle quietly did he look back up. “I’ll call you,” Dean said quietly, cheeks still pink, and gave Cas a solemn nod. Then he turned on his heels and pushed out the door.

The door almost slipped out his fingers when he stopped. He licked his lips and turned back. A second long he looked at Cas, then stepped towards him again. “To hell with it,” he mumbled under his breath and stepped up to him, until the tips of their toes met. He reached up, cupping Cas’ cheek and pulled him close. A split second he hesitated, taking in Cas’ breath, waiting until Cas closed the gap between them and let their lips meet.

Slowly, their lips began to move against each other, carefully pressing harder into one another. Castiel’s fists curled around Dean’s collar, pulling him in. Dean’s hands feverishly pushed up Cas’s back and grabbed a fistful of his hair. Their lips pressed harder together. He pressed Cas back until he was against the wall.

“Ewwwwwww!” a tiny, high pitched voice called out. They jumped apart, lips kissed red and soft, to see Claire pointing at them and giggling.

Castiel frowned, his reddened lips going tight for a second. “Claire, what are you doing here alone?”

Before she could answer, Jody caught up with her, and ushered her on towards the bathroom. Jody looked over them for a second, opening her mouth and closing it again. “Behave, you two,” she said, pointing at them, and followed Claire.

His brows raised, Dean blinked once, drawing a deep breath. “Guess I’m now desired number one here, or something, huh?”

“No. Not until Missouri finds out at least.”

For a moment Dean thought, nodding to himself. “I’m willing to risk that.”

Cas smirked slightly, and Dean leaned in again, his fingers resting against Cas’s jaw line as their lips met.

They parted to breathe, their lips bright red and soft. Dean tried to bite down a grin, lowering his head. His hand fell against Cas’ chest. Not sure what else to do with his hands, Dean patted Cas once. “All right.” He cleared his throat, easing himself off of Cas, and stepped back to the door. “So, I’ll call you later, okay? Then we can, you know, set a date. And this time it’s not going to be babysitting.”

“Are you saying that was a date?”

Dean opened his mouth. He held his breath a moment long, his lips closing again. Cas’ lips curled up slowly.

“I’m looking forward to it,” he said softly and nodded. His gaze soft, he stepped back. Then he pushed out the door, grinning in anticipation.


End file.
